DHAKA: HSBC would move up to 1,000 staff from London to Paris if the UK left the single market, following Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

The staff who would be relocated would be those who already process payments made in euros for HSBC in Canary Wharf, the BBC reports.

Thursday’s (June 26) referendum result means the UK will need to renegotiate its trade relationship with the European Union - including whether it remains part of the single market.

HSBC has declined to comment.

Eurozone leaders have warned that without unrestricted access to the EU, London’s big finance firms could move operations outside the UK.

The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said limited access to the single market would be the ‘price’ of the UK leaving the EU.

If the UK was not in the single market or the European Economic Area (EEA), it would mean the loss of ‘passporting’, which allows banks to operate without restriction in all EEA countries.

The EEA comprises the 28 members of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. EEA rules allow those non-EU countries to be part of the EU’s single market, as long as they allow full freedom of movement of people.

The head of France’s central bank, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, also warned that London’s banks would lose their ‘financial passport’ outside the single market or EEA.

BDST: 1755 HRS, JUN 26, 2016
RR