Dublin emerges as city of choice for UK’s biggest finance firms planning Brexit bolt

The EY Brexit Tracker has monitored the public statements made by 222 of the largest financial services companies with significant operations in the UK across wealth and asset management firms, investment and retail banks, private equity, insurance and FinTech.

The tracker captures statements made on key issues across sub-sectors relating to staffing, domicile, financial impact, policy asks, product changes, remuneration and opportunities.

They are all looking for new EU homes to head-off the impact of losing the “passport” they use to do business across Europe from their London bases once the UK leaves the trading block.

Frankfurt has garnered most of the recent headlines for winning business, with Japanese banks Daiwa and Nomura announcing they would set up EU bases in the German city.

But EY found that so far 19 had spoken of a move to Dublin/Ireland, whereas just 18 have mentioned Frankfurt/Germany. Luxembourg comes in third place, with 11 mentions.

Omar Ali, EY’s UK Financial Services Leader, said: “Since March, the number of firms saying that they intend to move staff and operations to Europe has only slightly increased. The difference three months on from the triggering of Article 50 is that we are seeing major financial brands put their contingency plans into action – over a quarter of the companies we track have suggested there will be potential changes to their London base as a result of Brexit. This process will only accelerate as firms finalise their submissions to the regulators on their Brexit plans.

“Financial Services companies are looking to make sure they can continue to conduct business across the EU, whilst retaining a strong base in London, and they are now starting to select potential European locations. Frankfurt, Dublin, and Luxembourg are currently coming out on top. The variety of locations being announced highlights that no one European centre is emerging as a compelling alternative to London. However, these operational changes also highlight a real risk to European businesses and the wider economy, as the fragmentation of European financial services could increase costs and limit the breadth and depth of finance options for European corporates.”