Fidelity stressed that both the UK and Continental Europe remain key markets for the business and that its presence in a country is not driven by EU membership. Fidelity added that it will continue to make “considerable investments” in UK operations.

With over 2000 staff in the UK, Fidelity International manages £188.8 million of assets (as at the end of March 2016) on behalf of investors in 25 countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Earlier this year, it announced plans to move into a bigger office at St George’s quay in Dublin. 

“We have been recruiting into the Dublin office and there are some roles that will be moving from the UK but these plans have not been influenced by the EU referendum in the UK, it is part of the longer term strategy of right location and right roles,” said a Fidelity spokesperson.

The news follows swiftly from Columbia Threadneedle’s announcement that it is boosting its asset management presence in Luxembourg in preparation for Brexit. The company explained it understood that under current EU rules, any asset manager that wants to distribute in the EU needs to have fund managers based there.

Also this week, the UK’s M&G Investments said Ireland would be its preferred option for EU retail fund distribution if the UK exits the single market.