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HSBC Holdings may face 300 million USD Brexit costs, as the bank prepares to move 1,000 of its employees to Paris. The largest lender in Europe has paid 4 million USD in the second quarter for Brexit costs, an amount that could raise to 200-300 million USD according to the CEO Stuart Gulliver.

HSBC plans to move around one-fifth of London-based investment bankers to its offices in France to maintain uninterrupted access to the European Union’s single market.

The revenues that are at risk from Brexit are about 1 billion USD. However, the company does not expect any losses, as the relocated staff will protect the bank from such loss.

Financial experts in London have warned of the severe consequences for jobs and investment unless a mutual trade agreement is reached before the end of the two-year renegotiation period. More than a year after the vote in the UK, there has been very little progress, which is why Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have triggered contingency plans involving the transfer of hundreds of bankers to other EU countries. So far, Frankfurt and Dublin are the most preferred locations for banks moving out of UK.

HSBC’s management uses the quarterly report of the bank to repeat the warning that the fragmentation of the European banking industry outside London will lead to increased spending and less funding for countries and corporations.

“Europe should not allow to reduce its financial capacity and capabilities”, said the Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings, Douglas Flint. “The question is whether Europe’s economies will continue to have access to the same financial capacity and related management services risks, as well as affordable and comparable prices that the UK used as part of the EU”, added he.

Following the Brexit, London may lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 other positions in financial services. Also the customers will move assets worth 1.8 trillion EUR out of the UK.

