Bank of England projects 75,000 finance job losses after Brexit
31 Oct 2017
The Bank of England has projected 75,000 financial services jobs may be lost in the years after the country leaves the EU in 2019, the BBC reported today.
''I understand that senior figures at the Bank are using the number as a 'reasonable scenario', particularly if there is no specific UK-EU financial services deal,'' the BBC's economics editor Kamal Ahmed wrote.
BoE deputy governor Sam Woods told Reuters at the start of the month that a figure of 10,000 job losses projected in a Reuters survey of banks' plans was a reasonable estimate of the initial impact of exiting the EU.
He added the longer-term impact of Brexit on jobs in financial services was much less certain, and depended on what deal the UK struck with the EU.
However, he expected London to be one of the world's largest financial centres over the coming decades after some politicians and economists predicted the financial industry would lose its pre-eminent status as a global hub for finance.
The financial services and insurance sectors of the UK employ 1.1 million people, many focused on the domestic economy rather than cross-border services that would most likely be hit by Brexit.
The 75,000 figure in the BBC report comes from a forecast by human resources consultants Oliver Wyman of a likely scenario in the event of a hard Brexit.
According to the BoE, the estimate applied to the next three-to-five years. It says 40,000 jobs could be lost directly from financial services, and the legal professional services sector would account for the rest of the job losses.
BoE has been looking at likely scenarios from a possible "no deal" Brexit. It has been asking firms to submit contingency plans for such a scenario.
Meanwhile, lobby groups have warned that the EU should not seek to reduce the position of the UK as a financial centre in Brexit talks.
