HSBC 'to move jobs to Paris if UK leaves single market'

17:51, 27 June 2016

LONDON. KAZINFORM HSBC would move up to 1,000 staff from London to Paris if the UK left the single market, following Britain's vote to leave the EU, the BBC understands.

photo: QAZINFORM

The staff who would be relocated would be those who already process payments made in euros for HSBC in Canary Wharf.

Thursday's referendum result means the UK will need to renegotiate its trade relationship with the European Union - including whether it remains part of thesingle market.

HSBC declined to comment.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of financial lobby group TheCityUK, said it was focused on securing continued access to the single market and warned of the risk of "prolonged uncertainty" while a new relationship with the EU was negotiated.

Eurozone leaders have warned that without unrestricted access to the EU, London's big finance firms could move operations outside the UK.

The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said limited access to the single market would be the "price" of the UK leaving the EU.

If the UK was not in the single market or the European Economic Area (EEA), it would mean the loss of "passporting", which allows banks to operate without restriction in all EEA countries.

The EEA comprises the 28 members of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. EEA rules allow those non-EU countries to be part of the EU's single market, as long as they allow full freedom of movement of people.