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| Former leader of Britain’s UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage |
HSBC has so far moved only a “tiny” number of jobs to Paris in order to deal with Brexit, Chief Executive John Flint said on Friday, in the bank’s most detailed comments yet on its plans.
The total number of jobs moved is likely fewer than 100 of as many as 1,000 the bank has said it could ultimately transfer, Flint told Reuters on the sidelines of the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Birmingham.
“I would imagine it’s tens, I don’t know exactly but it’s a tiny number of people who have moved so far,” Flint said.
Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said the lender would likely slow the pace of moving the jobs due to recent uncertainty over the outcome of talks with the European Union.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s repeated failure to get her withdrawal agreement through parliament has left lingering uncertainty as to when, or indeed if, Britain will exit the bloc. EU leaders agreed this week that Brexit was to be delayed until October 31.
The update from Europe’s biggest bank on how many roles it has moved so far comes amid fears in Britain that Brexit could ultimately lead to a decline in London’s status as the contintent’s leading financial hub.
A Reuters survey in February found financial services firms expected to move around 2,000 jobs as a result of Brexit, a fifth of the 10,000 flagged in a survey in September 2017.
