While politicians wrangle, executives are moving back-office roles away from the UK, writes Patrick Jenkins.
[...] banks, such as Credit Suisse, which have bulked up their back-office operations in Poland, have simultaneously cut staff in the UK. Deutsche Bank, whose chief executive John Cryan recently likened some back-office staff to abacuses, has made little secret of plans to slash jobs and shift roles from the UK to Germany. Staff at the bank’s back-office Birmingham outpost, are among the most worried about job security, senior executives admit.
Such developments illustrate two key points that policymakers forget. First, many of the jobs that could be at risk from Brexit may not be located in the City of London. And if regional roles are cut more readily than City jobs, it will only intensify British society’s resentment of high finance.
The second neglected point is that while politicians make slow progress in Brexit talks, the companies affected are getting on with investment decisions that favour the EU27. This is less about the eagerly watched fight for EU headquarter locations — Frankfurt has largely defeated Dublin and Paris in that battle — and more about back-office jobs.
Banks and their lobby groups are meanwhile doing their best to gee up the politicians and help stem the quiet slippage of business from the UK. [...]
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