UK banks may get temporary reprieve over Brexit

European regulators are considering making it easier, at least temporarily, for banks to handle some EU-related business in the UK immediately after Brexit, according to industry sources.

They say it may be possible in March 2019 when the UK leaves the EU to book trades done in centres such as Frankfurt out of London for a time. This has eased pressure on banks to rush staff out of London and is one reason that some banks have reduced estimates for the job numbers they expect to move.

The UK’s EU departure is expected to force banks to move thousands of jobs into the bloc so that they can continue processing EU-related trades. However, some banks have recently scaled back estimates of how many jobs will have to shift, with UBS saying last week it is likely to move fewer jobs than the 1,000 it had previously projected.