Banks and finance sector businesses that plan to send staff to work on assignment in Paris post-Brexit are being warned there are already increased costs and complications involved.

A recent report in The Financial Times (FT) highlighted Paris as the favoured trading hub for continental Europe “as banks and asset managers prepare for life after Brexit”.

The FT claimed companies such as BlackRock and JP Morgan Chase are already poised to join the likes of Bank of America and Citigroup by moving employees to France and creating a new financial centre.

Crown World Mobility agrees and says the move to Paris has already begun - and costs in the French capital are rising as a result. Phil Smith, Global Director, Financial & Compensation Services, Crown World Mobility, said: “There are some significant changes to consider in the finance sector when it comes to global talent mobility right now.  As the UK continues to pursue Brexit, other established financial centres such as Paris have seen a large influx of roles created (or planned) out of the uncertainty around it. This has had the knock-on effect of diluting the London talent pool and from a talent recruitment perspective a more far-reaching search area or approach may be needed to fill vacancies. Paris - and Frankfurt too - have also experienced a much greater demand for rental property - both currently and options beyond that for the future - driving supply down and prices up.”

Brexit could also have an impact on the global mobility environment in the UK amid fears that workers from abroad will choose not to move to Britain in the short term. “Anecdotally, whilst the UK could never be said to be a ‘hardship’ location in the traditional sense, overseas talent may for the time being choose alternative markets whilst the Brexit effect works its way through and some roles may well be harder to fill,” said Phil.  “That could equally be seen as an opportunity for home grown UK talent, and investment in developing that talent domestically is expected to grow to cope with the impact of the so-called brain drain.”

An extensive Crown World Mobility survey this year into attitudes to Brexit in European businesses which offer international assignments produced interesting results. It showed companies in Germany, Holland and the Republic of Ireland, for instance, are all stepping up the training of local talent for fear that recruiting UK talent in future could become more expensive.

Some of the statistics around global mobility included:

• The biggest fear in Germany, with 45%, was that it will be harder and more expensive to work in the UK after Brexit;
• Germans also feared that it will make it harder to employ UK citizens (29%);
• In Ireland, the number one fear was that it would be more expensive to work in the UK (41%);
• In Germany, 23% are training local staff to avoid the need for assigning employees from the UK in future.