Investment banks are shifting more senior staff out of London to financial centres across the European Union, accelerating the pace of moves after the pandemic and uncertainty over Britain’s access to the bloc slowed relocations.
Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Goldman Sachs are among those moving senior bankers, according to sources at the lenders, as European regulators push banks to better staff their EU offices and travel restrictions ease. Local hiring has also increased.
The lack of a breakthrough in talks for a meaningful deal between Brussels and London on financial services post-Brexit has added to the impetus. Client-facing bankers in London are required a “chaperone” based inside the bloc whenever they speak to clients, spurring some to relocate to avoid that complication when sealing deals.
Lifestyle choices are also playing their part, with traders and other senior staff moving too. Working from home during the pandemic enabled some bankers to leave London for warmer continental climes, mirroring a shift by Wall Street executives to Miami during the height of the COVID outbreak in New York.
Some European bankers are now looking at making the shift permanent.
via Reuters
