Yahoo Finance City insists Brexit still poses long-term risk to jobs, but just 630 roles have moved to date
A chaotic Brexit still poses a risk to finance jobs over the long term, an influential City lobby group has warned as new research showed as few as 630 roles have been shifted or created overseas so far.
Fewer banking and other finance roles have moved to the European Union to date than initially feared, according to the research by Reuters.
UK-based finance firms now expect to ultimately relocate up to 5,800 jobs in a ‘hard’ Brexit scenario, just 500 more than the last survey it conducted in March.
The potential total moves are well down on the 10,000 estimated by City firms in the first survey by the news wire last September.
Concerns that Brexit could force a mass exodus of finance jobs from London have been waning. In January 2017, the London Stock Exchange warned that as many as 232,000 jobs could go.
However, finance body TheCityUK warned a “bad Brexit” still had the potential to impact further jobs on both sides of the Channel.
“Firms across the industry are well advanced in their Brexit preparations. The priority is to ensure that customers can continue to be served,” said Miles Celic, chief executive of TheCityUK.
“Over the long-term, the real risk of a bad Brexit outcome is that jobs and economic activity leave Europe as a whole.
“This will benefit centres like New York, Singapore and Hong Kong, but will do little for customers and prosperity in Europe.”
Most City firms are prepared to implemented contingency plans to serve customers when the UK leaves the EU next March, even if there’s a ‘hard Brexit’.
Initial company moves have tended to be in the hundreds rather than thousands of roles, although some have warned a disorderly Brexit could lead to greater numbers shifting over a longer period.
JP Morgan’s vice chairman, Mark Garvin, told MPs earlier this month the bank was in “full execution mode” preparing for Brexit and would move “hundreds” of roles.
However, he said JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon had been right to warn up to 4,000 UK jobs could ultimately relocate depending on the type of Brexit deal agreed.
