Some of the UK’s biggest companies have said they are planning on moving around £1trillion in assets from the UK to the EU ahead of Brexit.

Consultants Ernst & Young said that banks, asset managers and insurers are opening or expanding their European centres to avoid disruption.

The financial industry has started to trigger its contingency plans as a no-deal Brexit looks increasingly likely with just days to go until Brexit.

The financial industry has started to put its worst-case scenario no-deal contingency plans into place (Picture: Jason Alden/Bloomberg/Getty)

It is likely to affect 7,000 jobs, according to EY, which tracks the declarations of 222 financial firms.


The news came ahead of Donald Tusk’s announcement that a short extension to Brexit is possible, providing that Theresa May’s deal gets through Parliament next week.



Since the 2016 referendum, around 2,000 new roles based in Europe have already been created.

In its latest research, EY said that 23 companies have announced the transfer of some £1 trillion in assets, an increase from £800 billion in the last quarter.

Omar Ali, head of financial services at EY, said: ‘The relocation of 7,000 high-paid finance jobs will inevitably hit the UK tax base.

‘Even using a conservative estimate… the direct loss to the Exchequer from employment taxes would be around £600m. In reality, the average salary and therefore tax loss is likely to be much higher.’

Only the UK’s biggest financial services companies have committed to proposals (Picture: Starcevic/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Up to this point, only the main financial firms have made concrete plans.

Dublin steadily remains the most popular destination for relocations, with 28 companies confirming plans to set up there.

Paris, Frankfurt, and Luxembourg follow closely behind with between 18 and 21 firms moving to the cities.

However, the majority of the UK’s big banks’ operations are still currently based in London.

An EY spokesperson said: ‘As 29 March draws nearer, companies are reconfirming or revising the statements they have made about the extent of staff and operational changes they are making, but we are not seeing many last-minute surprises – firms are executing their plans as expected’.

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