Financial services in UK largely unscathed from build-up to Brexit

BRITAIN’S FINANCIAL services industry has emerged largely unscathed so far from the build-up to Brexit, with about 2,000 roles expected to have moved or been created overseas, a new survey showed.

Many bankers and politicians predicted Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum would prompt a mass exodus of jobs and business and deal a crippling blow to London’s position in global finance.

But the number of jobs UKbased financial institutions say they actually expect to shift overseas has fallen steeply from the 5,766 predicted to move in the event of a no-deal Brexit in the last survey in September.

This new estimate is about a fifth of the 10,000 flagged in the first survey in September 2017.

A no-deal Brexit would mean Britain leaving the European Union without an agreement on trade.

Most bankers, however, are confident a compromise will be hammered out. They are waiting to see what will be agreed and what the relationship will be, before making any final decisions about relocations.

The survey results are based on answers from 132 of the biggest or most internationally-focused banks, insurers, asset managers, private equity firms and exchanges to a survey conducted between January 3 and January 28.

The jobs are equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the 400,000 people who work in financial services in London.

Meanwhile, top investment banks plan to hire far more people in London than anywhere else in Europe, indicating they expect Britain will remain their main regional hub, at least in the short term, a separate survey showed.