BREXIT: London's loss is Frankfurt's gain with €800 billion of assets potentially moving to Germany
- Around €750 billion to €800 billion ($911 billion) in assets are expected to move from London to Frankfurt in the first quarter of 2019.
- At least 30 financial institutions have chosen Frankfurt as their EU-base post Brexit.
- Frankfurt's financial-industry body claims 10,000 jobs will leave the UK for Germany.
While Theresa May tries to get her Brexit deal over the line, banks have already packed their bags and started moving to Frankfurt. It's more bad news for the City of London.
Frankfurt Main Finance, a lobby group, has claimed that between €750 billion to €800 billion ($911 billion) in financial assets will move to Europe's largest economy by the time Britain leaves the European Union on March 29, 2019. It's yet another indication of the fundamental shift taking place in the UK's financial-services industry, which makes up 6.5% of the economy, as Brexit-related changes strip the country of jobs and assets.
US bank giants Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup have opted to move billions in assets to Frankfurt. Swiss lender UBS has opted for Frankfurt as its new EU base. Similarly, Lloyds, Standard Chartered, Credit Suisse, and Nomura are among the other lenders that might expand or move to Frankfurt as a result of Brexit.
"We stand by the potential of up to 10,000 jobs moving to Frankfurt which we estimated on day 1 after the Brexit referendum," said Hubertus Väth, Managing Director of Frankfurt Main Finance.
UK Chancellor Philip Hammond recently released official assessments showing that the UK economy will be hit under all likely Brexit outcomes.
Other banks have opted for Paris and Dublin as their EU hubs in light of Brexit.