Barclays Chair Seeks Post-EU Model For City

The chairman of Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has told a lobby group for the UK's financial industry it will need to build a new international model following the country's vote to leave the EU.

John McFarlane was speaking in his capacity as chairman of TheCityUK, which has suggested regulators take a "measured" approach to the City in the wake of the referendum bombshell.

Mr McFarlane described the outcome of the referendum as a "self-inflicted wound" but said effective political leadership was required alongside clarity on the future.

His comments to the organisation's annual conference were made amid fears the Brexit vote will result in an exodus of financial services from London to other major EU cities such as Frankfurt, where the European Central Bank is based, and Paris.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) - which employ 11,500 people between them in London and helped fund the Remain campaign - moved on Wednesday to quash rumours they had drawn up plans to move their European banking operations to Germany.

US investment banks had warned before the vote that they would be forced to move roles to other EU financial centres if the UK was denied access to the single market's passporting regime.

While many other major firms have insisted it is too early to contemplate moving headquarters and even jobs, Sky News revealed on Tuesday that credit card giant Visa (Xetra: A0NC7B - news) was contemplating relocating roles from London to meet data protection obligations.

Mr McFarlane told his audience today: "We neither know the shape or direction of things to come".

"It's far from certain what we might be able to secure from discussions with the EU".

TheCityUK's chief executive Chris Cummings called for a "measured and proportionate" attitude from regulators so as not to hold back new growth areas like financial technology.