UK-based banks and other financial firms face losing "passporting" rights to sell services to clients operating in the European Union once Britain definitively quits the EU in March 2019. Talks between the two sides are not set to begin until after a UK general election slated for June 8, at which Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to be returned with an increased majority.
Many banks are now looking to cities in the eurozone to set up a European presence supervised by the European Central Bank. J.P. Morgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon warned before last year's referendum that as many as 4,000 British jobs could be relocated. Deutsche Bank said last week it could move up to 4,000 jobs away from Britain, while Goldman Sachs has said it expected to begin relocating positions next year.
Standard Chartered said Wednesday that it had chosen Frankfurt as its new hub. "We have looked at a number of locations but the choice of Frankfurt was very natural," bank chairman Jose Vinals said. Estimates for the possible number of jobs to be lost by London's key financial sector range from as few as 4,000 to as many as 232,000. Around 700,000 people currently work in the City of London.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017