Job gains for Ireland but no clear winner in finance, yet, from Brexit exodus out of London

Finance firms have announced that about 7,600 jobs will move from the UK to the EU, according to a study by consultancy EY

London soon lost its crown to Amsterdam as the continent’s top place to buy and sell shares after European equity markets opened on January 4. Picture: Kirsty O'Connor/PA 

In July 2016, a month after Britain voted to leave the EU, Boris Johnson was asked whether he thought the finance industry would keep its rights to trade freely in the EU. “I do, I do,” he told reporters. It was never that simple.

Half a decade later, billions of euros in assets and thousands of jobs have moved to the rest of Europe after the UK negotiated a bare-bones trade deal with the EU that largely sidelined finance, giving cities across the EU the chance to lure firms in flux.