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Britain's largest mortgage lender is examining steps to turn its branch in the German capital into a subsidiary and may apply for a licence to do so later this year, the sources said.
Lloyds, which declined to comment, is the only major British retail lender without a subsidiary in another EU country and it would be the first major lender to commit to Berlin as a hub to access the rest of the continent after Britain quits the EU. [...]
Banks are expected to announce more concrete plans for how they will adapt to Brexit in the coming months after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed in a speech in January that Britain would leave the European single market.
For Lloyds, the German capital's appeal is that it already has the bank's main European hub with a full management team in place, including the finance, risk and human resources staff required of a full subsidiary.
Therefore, in terms of staff, the Berlin branch would only need to change the status of those roles to meet legal requirements for a subsidiary, rather than having to transfer more people, according to one of the sources. [...]