JPMorgan Chase, which employs about 10,000 people in London, has asked "several dozen" employees to relocate across the European Union before the U.K. formally leaves the bloc in March next year.
The employees, drawn from JPMorgan's investment bank and other units including asset management, will begin moving toward the end of this year, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. The New York-based bank is bolstering operations in Madrid, Paris, Milan and "other locations" along with Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, where it has banking licenses, according to the memo.
JPMorgan is among many global lenders fleshing out plans to reorganize European operations as the 2019 deadline for Brexit approaches. Talks between the U.K. and the EU have all but stalled since March as Prime Minister Theresa May has struggled to come up with an exit proposal that satisfies both her counterparts in the rest of Europe and members of her own cabinet.
"Before asking other employees to consider relocating, we will wait for further political and regulatory clarity, " Daniel Pinto, head of JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank, and asset-management chief Mary Erdoes wrote in the memo. "The timing of these further moves is entirely dependent on whether an agreed transition arrangement is finally confirmed."
JPMorgan plans to "migrate or add" hundreds of employees to its EU offices before the Brexit deadline, according to the memo, echoing previous statements by bank officials, and the lender's headcount across the continent could increase further "depending on the outcome of negotiations," Pinto and Erdoes wrote.
Before the 2016 vote to leave, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon predicted that as many as 4,000 staff could be relocated.
Patrick Burton, a spokesman for JPMorgan in London, confirmed the memo's contents. Reuters reported the memo earlier Thursday.
