Big US banks are drawing up “stop gap” Brexit plans in an attempt to avoid moving hundreds of jobs out of London once the UK leaves the EU and before they have had time to recruit specialist staff in the European bloc.
Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America are among the banks planning to use London branches of their EU subsidiaries to smooth the process of building new headquarters on the continent, according to five people briefed on the plans.
One banker involved said the option – dubbed “branch-back” by lawyers – was “the simplest arrangement” available that offered “less costs, less disruption and movement”. Branch-back is essentially a reversal of the current set-up, where US banks tend to use their London operations to “passport” their services across the rest of the EU.
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