A thousand EU financial firms to continue serving UK clients after Brexit

More than a thousand banks, asset managers, payments companies and insurers in the European Union plan to open offices in post-Brexit Britain so they can continue serving UK clients, regulatory consultancy Bovill said.

The new offices and staff will help mitigate the loss of business going the other way as the current unfettered two-way direct access between Britain and the EU comes to an end in December following a Brexit transition period.

As a first step, the companies, who until now have been able to serve UK customers directly from their home base, have applied for temporary permission to operate in Britain after Jan. 31 when the UK leaves the bloc, Bovill said, using figures obtained from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.

“These figures clearly show that many firms see the UK as Europe’s premier financial services hub,” said Michael Johnson, a consultant at Bovill.

More than 300 financial firms in Britain have opened EU hubs to continue serving clients in the bloc after Brexit, according to a recent survey from New Financial think tank.

Consultants EY said that large UK-based firms had now implemented plans enabling them to continue operating in the EU after Brexit. It maintained its estimate that around 7,000 positions would be relocated from London to the continent and a further 2,400 jobs created and hired for locally at the new EU hubs.

Via Reuters