The probable, post-Brexit loss of the 'passporting rights', that currently allow London-based financial services companies to trade freely across the continent, has already led to HSBC, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and UBS saying some British-based jobs will move abroad.Speaking at a financial forum in Dublin, James Cowle, Chief Executive of Citigroup for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said, "We will be making a decision in the first half of this year. It’s a decision that every bank has to make in the first six months of this year."Our issue is with our broker-dealer, which is located in the UK and will lose, presumably, passporting rights. So what we're doing now is looking across Europe and we're saying: where do we want to establish a new broker-dealer?"We’ve reached out, we’ve talked to regulators and people at government across many countries in Europe, including Ireland, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and we’re in the process of evaluating each one of them."

Jobs moving to Dublin

Last year, Citi, which currently employs about 9,000 people in the UK, set up its European retail and commercial banking headquarters in Dublin and now employs about 2,500 staff there. Mr Cowle said Citi would be moving some jobs from London to Dublin. "It's been a great experience and when we look at different aspects of our business currently in London, there will be some things we'll move [to Ireland]. We'll have good, steady growth in employment in Ireland."Meanwhile, Noreen Doyle, Vice-Chair at Credit Suisse, confirmed that the financial services firm would move some of its operations out of the UK. "We are in the early stage of looking at alternatives outside of the UK," she told the Irish Times, without specifying which countries the company was considering.

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Related news:

• London banks gear up post-Brexit plans to move abroad
• Brexit News-May rules out single market and free movement

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Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam said in September that as much as a fifth of the volume of the group’s London operations could be affected by the UK’s loss of EU passporting rights.Earlier in the week, the Irish Independent reported that the Central Bank of Ireland was ready to fast-track applications from financial firms wanting to relocate staff from London. Department heads have been told to "reprioritise" staff so they can handle a recent increase in inquiries from UK-based banks.An Irish government report on the future of financial services said: "Since the UK's EU referendum result, there has been an enhanced focus on international financial services across government departments and agencies. There will be some opportunities with Brexit - the government is keen to maximise those where possible."Almost 4.5 million square feet of commercial space is under construction or refurbishment, and a further five million square feet of accommodation with full planning permission is available in the Greater Dublin area, the report said.

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