Dublin is Top Brexit Relocation Spot for Finance Firms, EY Finds

Dublin is the favorite destination for finance firms moving jobs into the European Union after Brexit, according to a study by consultancy EY.

Three dozen financial services firms are considering moving some U.K. operations to the Irish capital, or have already done so, the review found. Luxembourg is second, attracting 29 companies in total, followed by Frankfurt, which has drawn 23. Twenty businesses are moving business to Paris, according to EY’s survey of public statements by 222 firms through February.

Finance firms have announced that about 7,600 jobs will move from the U.K. to the bloc -- an increase of about 100 since EY’s last tracker, published in October. Almost 1.3 trillion pounds ($1.8 trillion) of assets have also moved, up about 100 billion pounds.

Some companies have pulled back from the U.K. as policy makers try to establish how much access to the EU’s markets London will have. Think-tank Bruegel said in 2018 that the City could ultimately lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 roles in the financial services industry.

There are other signs that some aspects of London’s decades-long dominance of European finance is eroding. This year, the capital lost its crown to Amsterdam as Europe’s top place to buy and sell stock while traders have shifted some interest-rate swaps out of the U.K.

“The push and pull of markets across Europe for business historically led from the U.K. continues,” EY partner Omar Ali said. “Such ongoing uncertainty poses the risk of fragmented markets, which is inefficient and costly for all financial services users and potentially damaging to the global competitiveness of both the UK and EU.”

(Bloomberg)