BREXIT
Banks tread warily ahead of Brexit
British Prime Minister Theresa May well trigger formal EU divorce proceedings on Wednesday
London — Banks are treading carefully, enacting two-stage contingency plans to avoid losing nervous London-based staff as they work out how many jobs will have to move to continental Europe as Britain exits the EU. British Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger formal EU divorce proceedings on Wednesday, launching two years of negotiations that will shape London’s place as a global financial centre. The move will also mark the point when investment banks begin taking concrete steps to prepare for Britain being outside the bloc. "Everybody is prepared for a cliff edge scenario, which means you need to more or less have, in a very short period of time, people on the ground making sure whatever happens, you are set," said Hubertus Vaeth, head of Frankfurt Main Finance, a group that promotes the city. The first phase involves making sure licences, technology and infrastructure are in place, while the next requires longer-term thinking on what their European business will look like in f...
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