World’s largest asset manager BlackRock shortlists cities for post-Brexit EU hub

New York-based BlackRock in January announced that it was hiring former Chancellor and London Evening Standard editor George Osborne as an adviser

BlackRock has around $5.4 trillion in assets under management (Reuters)

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, has reportedly shortlisted several cities as possible locations for an EU base after Brexit.

The investment giant, which has around $5.4 trillion (£4.2 trillion) in assets under management, has compiled a shortlist, consisting of Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam, according to The Irish Times.

A spokesperson for New York-based BlackRock, which in January announced that it was hiring former Chancellor and London Evening Standard editor George Osborne as an adviser, told The Independent that the company had not made any decisions.

“Given BlackRock’s experience operating in multiple jurisdictions, it remains well placed to meet its clients’ needs and has commenced efforts to lay the groundwork for our longer-term response. As part of this effort, and in line with our broader strategy to grow our business in Europe, we are considering several options to increase our presence in key markets on the Continent,” the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, TheCityUK issued a fresh Brexit warning, forecasting that the whole of the EU could face a “tipping point” if financial services firms, like asset managers and banks, quit London as a result of the country’s split from the bloc.

The lobby group said that while the outcome of the UK’s split from the EU is still uncertain, there is a general expectation that the country will lose some access to the single market. As a result, businesses will have to relocate parts of their UK activity to EU locations.

Bloomberg this week reported that Deutsche Bank is preparing to move large parts of the trading and investment-banking assets it currently books in London to its hometown of Frankfurt.

Standard Chartered, Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui and Daiwa Securities have also settled on the German city as their EU hub, and Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are understood to be weighing a similar move.

In May, insurer and asset manager Standard Life said that it had chosen Dublin as the base for its EU subsidiary post-Brexit.