Dublin is the big beneficiary of Brexit

Because of Brexit, hundreds of banks and financial service providers have relocated their headquarters from London to the EU. According to a new study, it is not Frankfurt that benefits most, but Dublin.

From Notker Blechner, tagesschau.de When looking at the number of financial firms that have relocated from London to another EU country, the Irish capital, Dublin, has the edge. 135 companies have relocated their headquarters there. This is the result of a study by the New Financial think tank.

More companies went to Paris and Luxembourg than to Frankfurt

The second biggest beneficiary of Brexit was Paris. 102 British financial service providers emigrated to the French capital. 95 companies went to Luxembourg. Only 63 companies dared to move from London to Frankfurt, including Nomura, UBS, Standard Chartered and parts of several major US banks. According to the study by New Financial, a total of more than 400 financial companies – banks, insurers, asset managers and other financial service providers – relocated their businesses from the British capital to EU countries. The authors of the study anticipate that the actual number will be even higher and that even more British financial service providers will relocate their activities in the future. “We are only at the end of the start of Brexit,” says the full-bodied study.

Frankfurt will benefit the most in the long term

In the long term, however, Frankfurt am Main is the big winner – in terms of the reallocation of assets, say the authors of the study. According to the investigation, assets worth more than £ 1 trillion (1.15 trillion euros) have been transferred from London to the EU so far. According to New Financial Paris, Paris should be ahead in terms of the number of newly created jobs. So far, conservatively estimated, a good 7,400 jobs have been relocated from London to the EU, speculate the authors of the study. That number will continue to rise, they prophesy.

3,500 to 10,000 new jobs?

In other studies in the past, the Frankfurt financial center came off better. For example, the Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) sees Frankfurt as the biggest beneficiary of Brexit. Helaba predicted that almost 1,500 new jobs would be created in the Main metropolis by the end of 2022. Overall, Brexit would create 3,500 additional jobs in Frankfurt. Hubertus Väth from the Frankfurt Main Finance location initiative even expects 10,000 new jobs to be created in the Frankfurt financial center thanks to Brexit. According to BaFin, almost 60 licenses have so far been granted to financial institutions and insurance groups that have relocated their headquarters from London to Frankfurt. “That is more than many would have believed,” says lobby representative Väth from Frankfurt Main Finance. The major US banks such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, the major British bank Standard Chartered and the Japanese financial giant Mizuho have chosen the German financial metropolis for their European headquarters. In the first wave of moves, mainly dealers and sales experts from banks came to the EU from London. Investment bankers are likely to follow in a second wave. Frankfurt is an attractive location because of its relatively affordable rents compared to Paris or Luxembourg and its green surroundings.