Barclays PlC is preparing its plans to settle on Dublin for its main hub inside the European Union after Brexit and is looking to add 150 staff there if the UK’s secession from the EU makes it difficult for banks to sell their services across the Continent.
The bank and some of its started to look within the city for office space this month and has been in contact with Irish regulators about expanding its operations but wanted nothing public to be anounced.Barclays is moving ahead with contingency plans so it can continue serving EU clients if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to strike a transitional or permanent deal preserving London’s access within the two-year renegotiation period.
Currently it has corporate banking and wealth management employees in Dublin ,Dublin is considered the natural choice for Barclays as it has two European banking licences, in France and Ireland. However, the need for English-language schooling for the families of staff and France’s restrictive labour laws make Paris less appealing as an EU base than Dublin.
“We have made clear repeatedly that we will plan for a range of Brexit contingencies, including building greater capacity into our existing operations in Dublin,” the bank said in a statement. “Identifying available office space is a necessary and predictable part of that contingency planning process.”
After May indicated last week she’ll pull Britain out of the single market and pursue other arrangements, many International banks have started to reveal more about their plans to shift jobs and set up offices within the EU . Financial firms, and their clients, are most concerned about a “cliff edge” Brexit, whereby all access is cut off after two years. Ireland has been seeking to lure banks based in Britain showing itself to be low-tax, English-speaking location with similar laws, regulations and “passporting” rights, which has been a great positive s across the EU.
Credit Suisse Group is also looking to expand in Dublin, people familiar with that bank’s plans said. The lender made the city its primary hub for servicing hedge funds in Europe last year, when Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny opened the firm’s trading floor. Dublin is emerging as a favored location for Credit Suisse’s so-called back-office jobs, said of its employees
Barclays Executives haven’t decided when employees will be moved or new hires made, with the timescale determined by how negotiations progress after Article 50 is triggered at the end of March, starting the formal two-year exit process.
London is the hub for European finance, however with many banks such HSBC and UBS, the Swiss bank, have said they could each move about 1,000 to another city in the EU depending on the type of deal London secures with Brussels.
Standard Chartered Plc has also approached Irish officials about making Dublin its legal base inside the EU while Citigroup Inc. is evaluating the capital along with other cities,
Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley said it’s going to be “very difficult” to move an established financial center like London elsewhere. His comments compare with warnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, who said last week “it looks like there will be more job movement than we hoped for.” Dimon had previously said he’d move 4,000 people from the U.K. after Brexit — while HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG have said at least 1,000 London staff may be relocated.
