Standard Life has set the wheels in motion for an EU subsidiary in Dublin, with its chairman noting the business "can't take a chance" on Brexit as its £11bn merger with Aberdeen Asset Management draws nearer.

Sir Gerry Grimstone said the firm is "now working towards" turning its Dublin branch into an EU subsidiary, pressing the firing gun on its contingency plans as it moves forward with the assumption that the UK will lose its passporting rights once it leaves the EU.

Speaking at the company's annual general meeting in Edinburgh, Mr Grimstone said that although he hopes the UK won't lose those rights - as then the company could service its 500,000 customers in Ireland, Germany and Austria as it does now - "we can’t take a chance on whether the negotiations will produce such an outcome".

That solidifies comments he made in Delhi last month, when he admitted that the group was considering a Dublin hub in response to Brexit, and comes a day after it emerged JP Morgan had bought a new office in Dublin to house around 1,000 staff.