Bengaluru: Global banks have warned they could move thousands of jobs out of Britain to prepare for the expected disruption caused by the country’s exit from the European Union, endangering London’s status as a major financial centre.

Financial services firms need a regulated subsidiary in an EU country to offer their products across the bloc, and this could lead some to move jobs out of Britain if it loses access to the European single market.

Many of the top financial firms have begun drawing up plans.

HSBC

Stuart Gulliver, CEO of HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said it would relocate staff responsible for generating around a fifth of its UK-based trading revenue, or around 1,000 people, to Paris.

Barclays

Banks in Britain will start shifting some operations to continental Europe reasonably soon to avoid disrupting links with customers after Brexit, Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley said. The bank is preparing to make Dublin its EU headquarters after Brexit, according to a source familiar with the matter

UBS

Swiss bank UBS would have to “move 1,500 people” from London to an EU destination in order to retain full passporting rights across the EU, according to UBS chairman Axel Weber. The world’s biggest wealth manager has also set up a bank in Frankfurt to consolidate most of its European wealth management operations.

Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s largest mortgage lender and the only major British retail bank without a subsidiary in another EU country, is close to selecting Berlin as a European base to secure market access to the EU after Britain withdraws.

Goldman Sachs

US bank Goldman Sachs is considering moving up to 1,000 staff from London to Frankfurt because of concerns over Brexit, Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported in January, citing financial sources.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley may initially shift 300 staff from Britain following its exit from the EU, and is scouting for office space in Frankfurt and Dublin, Bloomberg News reported in February.

Citigroup

Citigroup, which has also identified roles that will need to be moved out of the UK and has a large banking unit in Dublin, will need to move 100 posts in its sales and trading business, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

JPMorgan

The head of US bank JPMorgan Chase said the bank was not planning to move many jobs out of Britain in the next two years in a softening of tone on the likely impact from Brexit.

Bank of America Corp

Dublin is Bank of America’s default option for a new base within the EU, but other centres are on the table and no decision has yet been made, an executive said in Germany on March 14.