Lloyds prepares for Brexit with Berlin banking licence

Lloyds Banking Group has secured a banking license for its Berlin subsidiary as the Brexit deadline date approaches.

The lender has previously run the office on a standard passporting licence, however all British banks with customers in the EU could lose the licence after March 29 therefore Lloyds is seeking further regulatory approval, Reuters reported.

Read more: UK banks 'robust' enough to cope with no-deal Brexit, S&P Global says

In order to transform the office into a full subsidiary Lloyds will have to raise its capital by hundreds of millions of pounds.

The bank is joining other British companies that have stepped up preparations for a no-deal Brexit, as uncertainty over the UK’s future relationship with the EU continued following the defeat of Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement in parliament this week.

The bosses of Balfour Beatty, Amazon and Tesco confronted cabinet members who failed to rule out a no-deal Brexit following the government’s massive defeat in a heated conference call immediately after the vote, according to reports.

Asset management firms are among those who have applied for regulatory approval within the EU following the 2016 referendum in order to continue serving European customers.

Read more: Business titans tell ministers 'next six months are critical' in post-Brexit vote conference call

This week Hermes Investment Management announced it had set up an Irish office in preparation for a hard Brexit. Similarly, Pantheon has established a five-strong team in Dublin.

In November, all of the UK’s major banks were found to be robust enough to handle a disorderly brexit.