Finance bosses warn of more job moves as Brexit exodus ‘picks back up’

Around half of senior finance executives polled by Big Four accountancy EY expected Brexit to drive more jobs out of London, despite prime minister Boris Johnson’s claims that the City remains an attractive destination for bankers to continue doing business.

EY asked 43 bosses at London’s banks, asset managers and insurance firms in mid-October if they expected their firms to shift more people or assets to the European Union as a result of the UK’s split from the bloc. Just under half, or 48%, said such moves were likely, including 8% who said they expected their firms to shift “a large extent” of people or assets in the foreseeable future.

It comes just days after Johnson said the City’s “time zone, the language, the rule of law, the deep pools of liquidity in the City of London, the attractions of having some of the best universities in the world” were keeping banks focused on investing in their UK operations.