Morgan Stanley denies moving 2,000 London jobs to Dublin and Frankfurt

The American investment bank said it has no official plans

Hazel Sheffield
Friday 24 June 2016 14:04 BST
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Sir John is now a paid senior adviser to US bank, Morgan Stanley
Sir John is now a paid senior adviser to US bank, Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley has denied that it is moving 2,000 jobs to Dublin and Frankfurt following the vote for the UK to leave the EU.

Sources told the BBC on Friday that the process was already underway.

The American investment bank was reported to be moving jobs in euro clearing as well as other investment banking functions and senior management.

A spokesman for Morgan Stanley told the Independent that the reports were untrue and that the bank has no immediate plans to make changes.

“The UK’s vote to leave the European Union is a very significant decision which will have a considerable impact, the extent of which will not be known for some time," the spokesman said.

"There will be at least a period of two years before an actual exit takes place, so there will be time to implement any changes required to adjust our business to the new environment. Morgan Stanley will continue to monitor developments very closely and will adapt accordingly while prioritising the interests of our clients, our shareholders and our employees," he added.

Initial reports suggested Morgan Stanley needed to move staff because of the passporting system, which allows it to offer financial services across all EU nations without having a permanent base in that country.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

Businesses are expected to start restructuring, which may include redundancies, as they take stock of the implications of Brexit.

HSBC and Goldman Sachs have said they have no immediate plans to move operations out of the UK, despite statements made before the referendum.

Stuart Gulliver, HSBC’s chief executive, told Sky News in February that Brexit could see 20 per cent of its 5,000 London investment bankers moved out of London to Paris.

Goldman Sachs also issued several warnings it would be likely to move some staff out of the City if the UK voted to quit the 28 member bloc.

But this morning Douglas Flint, HSBC’s chair, emphasised the bank’s “commitment to British businesses, customers and staff” adding that it “remains undiminished” despite the vote.

Aneil Balgobin, partner and employment law solicitor at Simpson Millar, said he expected to see investment in foreign offices.

"Employees in the sectors that will be affected immediately might want to dig out their employment contracts this weekend and update themselves with the most relevant paragraphs such as restrictive covenants and redundancy terms," he added.

Many City institutions had warned prior to the vote that leaving the EU could mean job losses and movement of operation to the continent.

"The UK’s decision to leave the EU brings with it huge uncertainty for jobs within the financial services industry," Paul Cook, founder a cultural diagnostics firm Alderbrooke, said.

Cook doubted whether jobs would be moved immediately.

"Decisions on job cuts and banks moving their headquarters outside of London will not be effective immediately – but the last thing the sector needs is months of uncertainty as to ‘what happens next?’ weighing on the existing cost pressures," he added.

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