Dublin is first choice for Brexit finance firm relocations to EU

Ireland's capital is attracting more UK firms than Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Paris, or other centres in mainland Europe

Of 222 British finance firms releasing statements about Brexit-driven relocations, three dozen were moving jobs to Dublin, more than any other city in the EU, according to consultancy EY.

Dublin is the favourite destination for finance firms moving jobs from the UK into the EU after Brexit, according to a study by consultancy EY.

Three dozen financial services firms are considering moving some UK operations to Dublin, or have already done so, the review found.

Luxembourg is second, attracting 29 companies in total, followed by Frankfurt, which has drawn 23 firms. A total of 20 businesses are moving business to Paris, according to EY’s survey of public statements by 222 firms through February.

7,600 jobs move to EU

Finance firms have announced that about 7,600 jobs will move from the UK to the EU — an increase of about 100 since EY’s last tracker, published in October. Almost £1.3 trillion (€1.5tn) of assets have also moved, up about £100bn.

Some companies have pulled back from the UK, as policymakers try to establish how much access to the EU’s markets London will have. Think-tank Bruegel said, in 2018, that London could ultimately lose 10,000 banking jobs and 20,000 roles in the financial services industry.

There are other signs that some aspects of the UK capital's decades-long dominance of European finance is eroding. This year, London lost its crown to Amsterdam as Europe’s top place to buy and sell stock, while traders have shifted some interest-rate swaps out of the UK.

• Bloomberg