RBS may pick Dublin for its EU base after Brexit

Royal Bank of Scotland Group chairman Howard Davies has indicated the bank would probably pick Dublin as its European Union base following Brexit and may have to move "tens" of employees from Britain to other offices.

The chairman of the UK taxpayer-owned bank said: “In our case we don’t have a problem because we do own a euro zone bank in the form of Ulster Bank.” Speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday he said: “Probably we would have to move some people, but we are talking tens of people, not the numbers other banks are talking about.”

Banking plans

Global banks have started to reveal more about their plans to shift jobs and set up offices within the EU after prime minister Theresa May indicated she will pull Britain out of the single market.

British banks such as Barclays, which may move about 150 employees to Dublin, and Lloyds Banking Group, which will shift a handful of people to Frankfurt, appear less affected than their international peers, many of which have indicated thousands of jobs may relocate.

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Davies said any disruption from Brexit would be minimised for RBS because Ulster Bank is already regulated by the European Central Bank, while the Edinburgh-based lender also has smaller operations in the Netherlands and Germany. The Irish unit is "quite a sizable bank so we have a euro-zone base," he added.

Irish financial services minister Eoghan Murphy said positivity toward Dublin is increasing among banks considering Brexit-related moves.

- Bloomberg