First it was the Liberal Democrats, then it was the western world’s most important economic think-tank, the OECD. Now one of the world’s most powerful bankers, Lloyd Blankfein, has joined the calls for a second Brexit referendum that the banker said would find whether or not there is a consensus in Britain on the “monumental and irreversible” decision to leave the EU.
Blankfein, the head of the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, said in a widely-read tweet that there was “lots of handwringing” from chief executives in the UK about Brexit as they got a better sense of the “tough and risky road ahead.”
“Reluctant to say, but many wish for a confirming vote on a decision so monumental and irreversible,” he said.”So much at stake, why not make sure consensus still there.”
Goldman Sachs employs 6,000 staff in the UK with a new £350m European headquarters due to be completed near London’s Ludgate Circus just as the country leaves the EU in March, 2019.
But the firm has already indicated that it will be moving some operations after Brexit to Frankfurt, where it has recently leased the top eight floors of a 37-storey office block which is expected to be ready for occupation in the third quarter of 2019.
It could hold 1,000 staff compared to the 200 it now employs in Frankfurt, so it is not clear how many staff will end up moving move into the new London building.
“Vote Again”
Three weeks ago Blankfein tweeted an aerial shot of the London building (left) with the words “expecting/ hoping to fill it up, but so much outside our control”.
Virtually all City financial firms have been making plans to move at least some of their operations by looking for office space, rental property and school places for families in a number of cities, including Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam and Luxembourg.
Goldman Sachs is one of the most influential and closely-watched banks in the world, with its past employees including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, his predecessors Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson, the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
Blankfein’s suggestion of a second referendum was his fourth Brexit-related tweet from a Twitter account that has 70,000 followers despite the fact that he rarely tweets.
His first Brexit tweet came a month ago as he was leaving Frankfurt, the home of the ECB and a major contender to win finance jobs fleeing London because of Brexit. “Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there,” he said, in a message that many London observers took to be ominous.
Two days ago he tweeted from Paris that he was “struck by the positive energy” there and remarked upon the “good food”. Apart from Paris’s culinary attractions he noted that France had: “Strong government and business leaders are committed to economic reform and are well through the first steps.”
Financial firms are warning Theresa May’s Government that they will have to start implementing contingency plans by the end of March at the very latest.
Moving Out
Irish authorities have clinched deals with more than a dozen London-based banks to move some jobs and activities to Dublin in preparation for Brexit. Kieran Donoghue, the head of international financial services at Ireland’s Industrial Development Authority, said the firms had made definitive decisions to move jobs to Ireland in order to maintain an EU base after the UK exits the bloc. They included more than one US bank, with firms sizing up offices of 10 to 1,000 staff, he said.
JP Morgan, which already has 500 employees in Dublin, is building a 22-storey tower on the south of the river Liffey. Dublin has been vying with Frankfurt, Paris, and Luxembourg to position itself as an attractive destination for banks who wish to maintain a satellite within the EU, allowing them to provide services across Europe.
Japanese bank Nomura and the US firm Morgan Stanley have joined Goldman Sachs in announcing that they will shift some operations from London to Frankfurt but most banks are unlikely to make formal announcements about their shifts until they have concluded talks with regulators in Britain, their new host nations and the European Central Bank.
The UK will leave the EU in March 2019, but given the time required to apply for and obtain banking licences, banks need to have full contingency plans in place this year.
by Bob Graham
The post Brexit: More Support for A New Referendum appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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