British banking major Barclays has spent around £100m to £200m on its Brexit preparations, which includes moving its operations and staff out of the UK.
The figure was revealed by Barclays Bank UK chairman Gerry Grimstone after Bank of America vice-chairman Anne Finucane announced that it has spent $400m to brace for Brexit.
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“I hate to say that we’re more cost effective than Bank of America. We’ve certainly spent 100, 150 or 200 million,” Reuters quoted Grimstone as saying.
Barclays Brexit preparations
As a part of its Brexit plan, Barclays moved its European headquarters to Dublin, Ireland. It also transferred around €200bn in assets to the new headquarters.
The new Dublin office can accommodate around 400 people and around 1,700 Barclays’ staff across Europe will report to it.
Last year, the British bank also started the procedure to move 40 to 50 investment banking jobs to Frankfurt in Germany, Reuters’ report added.
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By GlobalDataThe UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on 29 March this year.
Since the announcement of Brexit in 2016, all major banks with significant bases in the UK started the procedure to transfer their operations to other European countries in a step to continue to serve its clients across the continent.
“We believe this will give us a competitive advantage on the continent which we haven’t had before,” the new agency further quoted Grimstone as saying.
In December last year, the European Commission recommended the British banks to relocate to continental Europe to avoid ‘no-deal’ Brexit ramifications.
Last month, another British lender Lloyds Banking Group secured a banking licence in Germany.
