Yahoo Finance Only 1,000 banking jobs lost since the Brexit vote
Just 1,000 jobs have left the City of London since Britain voted to leave the EU, new data suggests.
Consultancy EY’s latest quarterly Financial Services Brexit Tracker, published on Thursday, said that 1,000 roles have been moved to the continent amongst big UK investment banks. The tracker monitors the statements of 222 large finance firms in the UK.
The job moves are far below earlier estimates made of the damage Brexit would do to the UK finance sector.
In 2016, consultancy Oliver Wyman estimated that around 3,500 jobs would be lost even if the UK retained close links to Europe and as many as 75,000 finance jobs could be lost in a hard Brexit. Former London Stock Exchange CEO Xavier Rolet said over 200,000 City of London jobs could go.
Omar Ali, UK financial services leader at EY, said in a statement: “Given that many companies had pulled out all the stops to be ready ahead of the March deadline, much of the planning of temporary solutions for staff and operational moves has already been completed.
“Financial Services firms have the building blocks in place, but have so far transferred fewer staff and assets to the continent than expected.”
While only 1,000 roles have been relocated, EY warns that this represents just 15% of the total number of jobs earmarked to be moved. About 7,000 staff are expected to ultimately relocate to Europe.
Dublin is the most popular relocation destination, followed by Luxembourg and Frankfurt.
EY said as much as £1 trillion in assets could be moved out of Britain ahead of Brexit.
“There is still lots for the industry to contend with as we approach 31 October” Ali said.
Separately on Thursday, an annual ranking of global financial centres produced by consultancy Z/Yen partners reaffirmed London’s status as the second biggest global hub behind New York.
“We cannot afford to be complacent,” Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, said. “Day by day, as uncertainty persists, so does the threat of more businesses moving jobs and operations away from the UK.”
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