Barclays chooses Dublin as HQ for post-Brexit opertions

Barclays has revealed its plans for shifting jobs out of the UK after Brexit. According to commentators, the plan should not cause much concern.

After suggestions that from 20 per cent to 50 per cent banking jobs could be displaced, Barclays has proved the concerns wrong.

The British bank's plan had made Brexit look inconsequential and according to Bloomberg if UK-based finance companies lose easy access to the trading bloc, then Barclays is planning to, ''add about 150 staff,'' to a new European hub in Dublin. Given that Barclays' investment bank employed an estimated 10,000 people in the UK, the implication is that less than 2 per cent of the bank's UK jobs would be affected.

Barclays' apparent conclusion that Brexit was no big deal comes after CEO Jes Staley suggested that it was more of an administrative issue than anything else. ''Same people, same traders, you have to book a trade in Ireland as opposed to London, but that's not a wholesale move of our capability from London to Ireland,'' he told the Financial Times last week.

Barclays Plc started scouting around the city for office space this month and had been in contact with Irish regulators about expanding its operations, Bloomberg reported citing people, who asked not to be identified because the plans were not public.

However, Barclays is moving ahead with contingency plans so that it could continue serving EU clients if prime minister Theresa May failed to strike a transitional or permanent deal preserving London's access within the two-year renegotiation period.

''We have made clear repeatedly that we will plan for a range of Brexit contingencies, including building greater capacity into our existing operations in Dublin,'' the bank said in a statement. ''Identifying available office space is a necessary and predictable part of that contingency planning process.''