Pro-EU Donor Citi Warns On Brexit Jobs Risk

One of the biggest Wall Street donors to the campaign to keep the UK in the European Union has warned staff that Brexit would mean "rebalancing" its operations away from Britain.

Sky News has obtained a memo to Citi's 9000 UK-based staff from James Bardrick, the bank's chief country officer for the UK, which refers to an ongoing review of its "organisational footprint and where we book business".

Mr Bardrick told Citi's workforce, many of whom are based at its headquarters in London's Canary Wharf, that its contingency planning had led it to conclude that a vote to leave the EU "is likely to have implications for our UK operations".

"To continue to serve our clients and maintain efficient access to those markets currently enabled through the EU passporting regime, we would likely need to rebalance our operations across the EU," he told staff.

Mr Bardrick did not outline the number of jobs which could move from the UK, but his warning will nonetheless be interpreted as another important intervention from a corporate boss.

Citi donated £250,000 to Britain Stronger in Europe, making it a major financial contributor alongside Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) , JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) .

Last week, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's chairman and chief executive, said that as many as 4000 of its UK-based staff could see their jobs disappear in the event of Brexit.

In his memo, Mr Bardrick wrote that Citi was "drawn to the UK as its regional headquarters and operating hub for two principal and interrelated reasons: the UK's position as a successful and powerful global financial centre; [and] the UK’s valuable access to the EU’s single market as a member state".

"We believe the UK's position as a global leader in many areas of financial services is in no small part aided by efficient and effective access to the EU’s single market, the largest single market in the world, with 500 million citizens as potential customers and employees," he said.

The intervention will be welcomed by the Remain campaign and is likely to draw renewed criticism from Vote Leave.

"We believe access to the single market leads many other international companies, including many of Citi’s major clients, to invest in the UK and base their regional or global headquarters here," Mr Bardrick wrote.

The bank employs more than 9,000 people in the UK, with roughly 13,000 more in the whole of the EU.

Citi declined to comment further on the content of the memo.