HSBC expects $300m Brexit bill
The cost is mostly to move staff to Paris from London, to protect $1bn in revenue, the bank says
Hong Kong — HSBC faces as much as $300m in legal and relocation fees as it prepares to move 1,000 staff to Paris, in one of the first indications of the cost of Brexit to the UK’s financial industry. Europe’s biggest lender took a $4m charge in the second quarter for “costs associated with the UK’s exit from the EU”, which CEO Stuart Gulliver said could rise to between $200m and $300m. HSBC plans to relocate about a fifth of its London-based investment bankers to its offices in France to maintain uninterrupted access to the European Union’s single market. “The total is effectively the cost of the transition across to France,” Gulliver said on a call with reporters on Monday. “The revenue we think is at risk from Brexit is about $1bn, but we don’t expect to lose it”, because moving staff will protect those businesses affected. London’s financial executives have warned of the dire consequences for jobs and investment of a “cliff-edge” Brexit, in which no mutual free trade deal is stru...
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