Brexit has moved just over 7,000 jobs in the financial sector from London to the European Union. According to accountancy and consultancy firm EY, these are fewer jobs than initially feared, but the numbers could rise.

Due to Brexit, British banks were no longer automatically licensed to operate in the EU.

According to EY, due to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, 7,400 jobs have been relocated to the remaining member states of the country bloc. That’s slightly less than the 7,600 jobs the office forecasted at the end of 2020. However, it is also a much lower number than the 12,500 jobs financial services firms warned about during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Paris attracted the most workers from the London financial sector. However, because of Brexit, 2800 people came to work here. Frankfurt and Dublin followed with 1800 and 1200 financial workplaces, respectively, in the British capital.

According to EY, the shift of jobs from the UK to EU countries is not over. For example, it is quite possible that branches in the EU of banks in London will need more staff. This is because the European Central Bank checks whether offices in Member States have enough staff to issue a banking license recognized within the EU.

The United Kingdom and the EU reached a Brexit agreement at the end of 2020, after a transition period of 11 months, which contained many agreements on mutual trade. However, no final agreements have yet been made for the financial sector. Brussels and London have yet to reach an agreement in which they promise to consider each other’s supervision of the financial sector equal.

This makes it easier to do business in the EU and the UK at the same time. In addition, the EU has proposed to extend a temporary agreement for cross-border financial services, which would last until June.