Barclays has no plans to move jobs due to Brexit

Barclays has no plans to move jobs out of the UK due to Brexit, chief executive Jes Staley said on Thursday.

"We are a British bank, our history is here in the UK so first and foremost we are staying anchored in London and anchored in Great Britain," Staley told BBC News.

Since the UK voted to leave the European Union on 24 June, banks have warned that Brexit could affect jobs due to the uncertainty surrounding London remaining a financial hub.

However, Staley said: "Right now we are not making any plans to pick up and move people from one location to another."

He said that it was too early to speculate what would happen regarding the free movement of people or financial institutions’ ability to do business with the EU or the rest of the world post-Brexit.

"I don’t think any regulators want the US banks to be prohibited to come to Europe, or to the UK any more than the desire for the UK banks being limited in what they can do in the US and in Europe,

"Now whether it will take a different construct than what we have today that is possible, but right now we are not making any plans to pick and move people from one place to another it is way too early I think to be thinking about that."

He said Barclays needed to maintain access to capital markets so traders can conduct business.

"We want to stay connected to the European capital markets and we will adjust our business model to make sure we have access to those capital markets."

Staley also said if the bank was restricted by Brexit it would hire new employees elsewhere to access Europe.

"You might have to increase your presence in another location - that doesn't necessarily mean you have to decrease [at] your location here.”

However, Richard Gnodde, the co-head of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division said on Thursday they had not ruled out moving jobs out of the UK because of Brexit.

He said “every outcome is possible” when he was asked at a conference in London if the bank was considering moving jobs to a Eurozone country.

“If passporting was totally removed, we would have to adjust our footprint and where people were located.”

Before the EU referendum Barclays said that they thought the UK should stay in the EU. This was echoed by Goldman Sachs which also contributed to the Remain campaign.

Shares in Barclays bank were up 0.57% to 138.74p at 1632 BST.