London

Deutsche Bank is gearing up to re-home many of its trading and investment-banking assets back to Frankfurt from London over Brexit, according to a Bloomberg report.

Germany’s largest lender would relocate most of the business reported in London to a so-called booking center in Frankfurt under the plan, said the people with knowledge of the matter. The strategy, which is still being finalized and would be reviewed if the Brexit scenario changes, will probably be implemented over the next 18 months; trading jobs and up to 20,000 client accounts could also be shifted, the source told Bloomberg.

Germany’s financial hub, Frankfurt, is trying to attract its share of the Brexit-driven banker exodus from London by appealing to "risk takers" working in the financial sector.

The UK is widely expected to lose financial passporting rights after its EU exit, which would represent a huge blow to its financial services industry. The EU’s passporting rules allow businesses to sell services across the union from anywhere within it and only require companies to be regulated in one country, rather than everywhere they operate.

Nomura picked Frankfurt as the headquarters for its European Union operations after the UK leaves the bloc, Bloomberg reported.

Japan’s biggest brokerage will start preparations this month to form a base in the German financial centre, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is confidential. The decision will necessitate regulatory approval along with securing the requisite office space before transferring fewer than 100 employees from London to the city, according to the person.

The merger between the Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange has been vetoed by the European Commission because of competition concerns, ending a third attempt in 17 years to unite the financial hubs of London and Frankfurt.
In a statement on Wednesday, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Britain’s decision to leave the 28-nation bloc had played no role in banning the tie-up.

London may be on the cusp of falling down from its post as top financial center of the planet, finds a new report, although rival European cities still lag far behind.

The Z/Yen Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI), released last week, retained London’s top spot but uncovered widespread feelings of uncertainty among financial professionals, especially as concerns over potential fallouts from Brexit continue. The report’s ranking of 88 financial hubs placed London at the top, followed by New York City and three Asian cities: Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

UBS has repeatedly warned it will move staff to the Continent in the wake of the EU referendum. Chairman Axel Weber claimed 1,500 jobs would shift from London to preserve its business on mainland Europe and that the two-year negotiation process for Brexit “simply would not work” for its relocation strategy.
“We cannot postpone decisions on how we run our European operations,” Weber said at a conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday. “As soon as we know definitely that Brexit will happen, you will see decision-making processes kick off in all financial institutions.”

Two City traders, George Urumov and Vladimir Gersamia, were convicted of multiple fraud offences following a four-month trial at Southwark Crown Court. The pair were handed jail terms of seven and 12 years respectively.

The victim of the complex fraud scheme was Russian bank Otkritie, with the size of the losses related to the illegal actions exceeding £141 m ($176 m), according to a report in the Financial Times.

The first part of the fraud was carried out in 2011, when Urumov joined Otkritie Securities Ltd (OSL) and manipulated the company into paying him approximately $25m as a “sign-on” fee under the false impression that it would be distributed to others also joining the company.

Credit Suisse is exploring options for expanding in Dublin, as the UK moves closer to exiting the European Union, according to a report from Bloomberg.

It is believed Dublin is emerging as a favoured location for the bank’s so-called back-office jobs. The Zurich-based bank is also understood to be considering cities including Frankfurt as it develops plans for moving jobs to adapt to Brexit, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Credit Suisse board member Noreen Doyle said in Dublin earlier this week that the bank is in the "early stages" of examining alternatives to the UK as it plans for Brexit’s implications.