Poll: Brexit won’t lead to financial services brain drain
Just 630 UK finance jobs have moved abroad since the Brexit vote, a Reuters poll found today.
It contrasts fears voiced immediately after the vote that leaving the EU could badly damage the UK’s financial services sector.
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Reuters’ poll of 134 financial giants found that a total of 5,800 jobs are to be relocated abroad once the UK leaves the bloc, just 500 more than the total from its last survey, which polled fewer firms.
The finding suggests the financial services industry is growing less scared of Brexit, after the news agency’s first survey last September found firms wanted to move 10,000 jobs abroad.
International banks, insurers, asset managers, private equity firms and exchanges told Reuters they are moving the lowest number of employees possible, as they hold out for a Brexit deal guaranteeing access to the Single Market.
However, the prospect of a no deal scenario increased last week as Theresa May’s Chequers plan, which seeks tailored agreements on goods and customs, was rejected by the EU at a summit in Salzburg.
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The next day the Prime Minister reiterated her view that a “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
This week Labour confirmed it would vote against any agreement May brings back from the negotiations when it is put to parliament, and her plan faces rebellion from within her own party.
But Reuters’ survey, conducted over six weeks between August and September, found that London is likely to remain the world’s international financial services hub after Brexit.