Strategy
JP Morgan Asks Staff To Relocate From UK Amid Brexit Angst

The bank sent a memo to a handful of staff asking them to relocate to continental Europe post-Brexit.
Wall Street giant JP
Morgan has asked a number of employees to lead a first
round of relocations from the UK to continental Europe by early
2019, as it starts its post-Brexit plans, a spokesperson has
confirmed.
The bank asked several dozen employees, including some from its
wealth management segment, according to a memo. The spokesperson
would not confirm the quantity of staff asked to relocate within
its wealth segment.
The memo came a day before UK Prime Minister Theresa May held
crunch talks with ministers at her country residence Chequers on
how she wants to shape the UK's future trading relationship with
the EU. The bank's memo was signed by Daniel Pinto, chief
executive of JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank and Mary
Erdoes, CEO of the bank’s asset and wealth management
division. According to Reuters, the memo outlined
JPMorgan’s plans to expand its presence in other EU cities
including Paris, Madrid and Milan.
Until now, the bank was expected to focus on expanding its
Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Dublin bases, where it already holds
banking licenses.
According to Reuters, the staff who have committed to
leave the UK before “Brexit Day” on 29 March 2019 primarily work
in client-facing or risk management roles in both the investment
bank and asset management divisions. It also said JP Morgan
expected to migrate or add “a few hundred roles” to the EU-based
headcount by that date and it had already started recruiting for
key positions, but relocations could happen more gradually if a
suitable transition deal was confirmed.
This comes at a time where firms are starting to make their long
term plans for the UK's exit from the EU. What this means for the
financial services sector is still unknown, as Prime Minister May
battles to achieve a firm cabinet line about Brexit. Arguments
centre around whether the UK quits the bloc entirely or retains
some membership of the Customs Union, involving possible limits
on the UK's ability to do free trade deals with non-EU nations.
There has been a steady diet of stories of how fund managers and
banks are considering shifting some operations into countries
such as Ireland and Germany to retain a level of EU access.
Debate continues on the scale of any shift, given that London is
seen as being the dominant financial market in Europe over the
medium term.
The financial sector has had a mixed reaction to Brexit.
Paris-based Comgest, the independent asset manager, opened its
first UK representative office in London,
last month, but LGIM [part of Legal & General], on the other
hand, has recently moved its European headquarters to Dublin, as
reported by this publication. While Brexit will undoubtedly
rattle the UK’s financial services sector, a recent survey showed
that the number of finance jobs to be shifted out of the country
by the March 2019 Brexit deadline has dropped by half, compared
with earlier forecasts, to 5,000 roles.