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Two of HSBC’s most senior executives this week said that the Conservative party’s weakening grip on power could lead to a “softer Brexit”, which in turn would mean that the bank might not have to relocate the 1,000 workers it previously guided.
That offered a glimmer of hope that other banks would no longer prepare to move thousands of their staff to the EU, a measure they are taking as a precaution in case the terms of the EU/UK divorce means UK entities can no longer easily conduct business with EU clients and markets.
Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS and Deutsche Bank all declined to comment publicly on how they saw the election result affecting Brexit planning, but several people familiar with the banks’ planning said there would be no impact.
“Our stance hasn’t changed,” said a person at one large bank. “Speaking with regulators and politicians in other European capitals, they still see this as a real opportunity to take a good share of financial services. Even though the tone in the UK may have changed since the election, it certainly hasn’t on the continent.”
A person at a second US bank said: “Regardless of the negotiations, we’ve been planning for a hard Brexit — to make certain there’s no interruption to the service we provide to our clients.”
Those sentiments were echoed by another at a large US bank who also pointed out that while “the chance of a soft Brexit has increased but the complexity of delivery has also increased”.
Full article on Financial Times (subscription required)