Bank jobs are moving out of London — and Brexit hasn't even kicked in yet

Despite fears of irrevocable damage, the City of London is unlikely to change substantially once the U.K. leaves the European Union.

The financial services industry has been quietly preparing for Brexit given that it's likely to lose its EU passporting rights – meaning that it will need extra licenses to serve EU-based customers.

The negotiations between London and Brussels are still ongoing and it is unclear how many employees will have to be moved from London to other European cities. At the moment, the disruption appears to be minimal compared to the overall size of the industry.

But there are clear winners from the exit of some jobs from London with Frankfurt and Dublin the top destinations for institutions that wish to continue working with clients across the EU.

Barclays

The British bank has said it will expand its Irish subsidiary to continue its European trade. The bank hasn't revealed figures of how many new jobs it will need in Dublin as it is still in negotiations with regulators and waiting for more details from Brexit talks. For now, the expectations are that about 150 jobs will be added in Dublin, but not all of them will be moved over from London as the bank intends to also hire locally.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Bank of America has also chosen Dublin as its preferred location to place its European legal entities. "Dublin is the home to more of our employees than any other European city outside of the U.K. We already have a fully licensed and operation Irish-domiciled bank," the bank said in a statement in July.

BofAML will be moving "hundreds" of roles to Dublin, but also to a few other undisclosed EU locations.

Citigroup

The Swiss bank is "currently exploring solutions to various outcomes, including a hard Brexit," a spokeswoman told CNBC. The bank hasn't presented any Brexit strategy as of yet, but as a result of restructuring plans, the UK-based workforce has been reduced over the past few years.

JP Morgan

JP Morgan is expected to move "hundreds" of employees. It will use Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris and Luxembourg as "legal anchors" but it hasn't yet announced details for such moves.

A spokeswoman for JPMorgan said in October that the bank could increase its headcount in Paris by roughly 60 people. However, the final numbers will depend on the outcome of negotiations.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Jr Trader Alexander Kumanov

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