Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year,” Browne wrote. The key issue is Britain’s access to the European Single Market. There are over 800 Indian companies in Britain, mostly in London, who use the base to access the EU market. Browne noted that banks based in Britain were currently lending £1.1 trillion, “keeping the continent afloat financially”, which would be at risk. Banking, he wrote, was Britain’s biggest export industry, and that the Brexit discourse threatened not just tariff-free trade but the legal right of banks to provide services.

Source: Hindustan Times October 24, 2016 05:37 UTC