Brexit: UBS ready to move 1,000 staff out of London

The chief executive of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, says it is becoming "more and more unlikely" that the bank will move 1,000 staff from London after receiving "regulatory and political clarifications" around Brexit.
The Swiss bank has previously said that around a fifth of its 5,000-strong UK staff were involved in operations dependent on passporting rights that allow financial services to operate across the bloc.

On a third-quarter earnings call with reporters, Sergio Ermotti said that as the bank received more clarity from policymakers and regulators around the UK's exit deal with the European Union, its worst-case Brexit scenario could soften.

No final decisions have been taken but, like its peers, UBS is in the process of planning how it will continue to serve its European clients once the UK officially exits the EU in March 2019. Ermotti reiterated that the bank had the necessary banking licences in place to operate from its offices in Frankfurt.

"We are finalising our plan on where to move people that need to be moved over the next … one to three years depending on the outcome of this political discussion and negotiation," he said.
He said that the 1,000 jobs moves were "becoming in the last few months more and more unlikely … because we got also some regulatory and political clarification about what we need to do," he said.
Mr Ermotti said that his "target" is to "keep as many people as we can in London".

UBS has not given any further details on how many jobs could now be moved. The news is likely to raise questions over what kind of reassurances businesses are receiving around post-Brexit agreements between the UK and EU.
A spokesman for the Treasury said: "The Chancellor has made it clear that it is his priority to ensure the UK remains the financial services centre of the world.
"We will continue to work closely with the City to negotiate a transitional arrangement which avoids unnecessary disruption, and allows firms to adjust in an orderly way to the new arrangements after Britain leaves the EU."

Numerous major financial figures, including bank CEOs and senior regulators, have warned in recent weeks that a Brexit transition deal should be struck as quickly as possible to stop any financial exodus. Banks need to make final decisions about moving staff by the first quarter of next year as they need at least a year to set up fully functioning branches and subsidiaries in Europe to maintain activities.