JP Morgan to begin moving dozens of staff out of UK because of Brexit

US bank's boss Jamie Dimon was a vocal opponent of Brexit in lead up to referendum two years ago

The bank previously warned that it might be forced to move staff out of Britain (REUTERS)

JP Morgan has asked “several dozen” staff to move from the UK to elsewhere in continental Europe as it begins preparations for Brexit, with some relocations to take place by the end of this year.

The US bank, which employs 16,000 people in the UK, has previously warned that thousands of jobs could be moved to the EU after Brexit. As part of its preparations for the UK leaving the bloc, the firm said last year that it would look at increasing its headcount in Paris.

The bank's EMEA employees received a memo on Thursday which revealed that staff have been asked to move to a range of other EU locations by 29 March, 2019, when Brexit officially begins.

The firm said that while its banking licences in Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg will allow it to continue operating across the EU, new hires and relocations will not be limited to those cities.

The memo also said JPMorgan expected to migrate or add “a few hundred roles” to its EU-based workforce and revealed it had already started recruiting for positions in other EU locations, such as Paris, Madrid and Milan.

The company said relocations could happen more gradually if a suitable transition deal was confirmed.

The total size of its EU workforce, however, is “entirely dependent on whether an agreed transition arrangement is finally confirmed”.

“Just as we are working to minimise disruption for our clients, we are looking to do the same for our people,” the memo said.

“We want to avoid affecting the lives of employees and their families with changes that could prove to be unnecessary or premature, as long as political negotiations and regulatory outcomes remain unclear.”

Ahead of the referendum in 2016, JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon warned that Brexit could lead to job cuts in the UK.

Mr Dimon described the EU as one of the great human endeavours and said: “My observation of the facts is that a vote to leave would be a terrible deal for the British economy.”