EU Ref: Financial firms '˜will quit UK after Brexit vote'

Leaving the EU would see finance firms quit the UK and move their head offices to Europe, EU Commissioner Lord Hill has claimed.

Lord Hill warned leaving EU would be 'acrimonius'. Picture: Contributed

The warning by the EU Commissioner for Financial Stability was made on a visit to Edinburgh where he warned of the “disruption” that would be caused by Brexit. In a speech to financial services professionals at Lloyds, he said three million UK jobs and 250,000 in Scotland depended on exports to the EU.

He warned that leaving would be a “lengthy” and acrimonious” process.

“What I hear a lot from foreign companies who have invested in the UK is because they’ll still want to have access to the single market they’ll move their headquarters to the continent to mainland Europe. If you are in Britain having to do 27 different negotiations. Why wouldn’t you go somewhere else where you still get the benefit of access to the single market?”

Chris Cummings, CEO of TheCityUK – the body which champions the UK’s financial services industry – warned that Brexit would be the “biggest disruption” since the 2008 financial crisis.