Over 1,000 EU firms to open UK branches after Brexit

Over 1,000 EU firms to open UK branches after Brexit

Over 1,000 banks, asset managers, payments companies, insurers in the European Union are planning to open their offices in a post-Brext UK in order to mitigate the loss of businesses going the other way, according to regulatory consultancy Bovill on Monday.

The new offices have applied for temporary permission that would allow them to operate in the UK after it leaves the bloc on January 31^st , Bovill said.   

“These figures clearly show that many firms see the UK as Europe’s premier financial services hub,” said Michael Johnson, a consultant at Bovill.

According to Bovill, 228 firms from Ireland, 170 from France, 165 from Cyprus, and 149 from Germany have applied for temporary permissions to keep serving UK clients.

However, while the extent of market access between the UK and the EU after December is under negotiations, most have concluded that even a best case scenario would not cover the full range of financial services.