Citigroup and Credit Suisse confirm plans to shift some operations out of UK

Citigroup and Credit Suisse have confirmed that they will make a decision over the next six month on which operations they would relocate out of London following Brexit. Speaking at the European Financial Forum conference held in Dublin on Tuesday (24 January), senior executives from both companies said that they were looking to move certain businesses to other countries in Europe. However, it is not clear, which operations they plan to shift.

Citigroup CEO for Europe, Middle East and African, James Cowles said the American bank would move part of its current London operations to Ireland. "It's been a great experience and when we look at different aspects of our business currently in London, there will be some things we'll move" to Ireland...We'll have good, steady growth in employment in Ireland," he said.

While Citigroup currently employs 9,000 people in the UK, it already has about 2,500 staff in Ireland.

Cowles added that the main issue was relocating its broker-dealer operation, which is currently in the UK. He said this needed to be shifted as it would lose its passporting rights post Brexit, which would in turn prevent it from providing services to clients across the UK.

Cowles pointed out that Citigroup was already in talks with other European regulators and governments in Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

He further explained that the bank had 25 criteria to weigh up while choosing the new location.

Meanwhile, Swiss financial services firm Credit Suisse also confirmed similar plans. Noreen Doyle, vice-chair of the board of directors at Credit Suisse, said that the firm would move some of its operations out of the UK. "We are in the early stage of looking at alternatives outside of the UK," she was quoted as saying by Irish Times.

While she did not comment if Dublin would emerge as a beneficiary, she said her company was currently looking at various European cities.