Brexit Bulletin: Bankers Prepare for Exodus From London
Brexit Offers ‘More Challenging Environment Ahead’
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Banks will start moving operations out of the U.K. late this year and early next as they anticipate a hard Brexit. That's according to Anthony Browne, chief executive officer of the banking lobby group BBA, writing in the Observer newspaper on Sunday.
International banks’ “hands are quivering over the relocate button,” he wrote. “Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year.”
Without identifying any banks by name, he said lenders can’t wait until the last minute and have to “plan for the worst,” especially because “public and political debate at the moment is taking us in the wrong direction.”
Handily, some real estate companies are already finding them new digs. A property company managed by Schroders Plc is bidding for an office building in Frankfurt, joining CBRE Global Investors LLC and Standard Life Plc, which are seeking to purchase office space in cities from Dublin to Amsterdam.