Bank of America Merrill Lynch has announced the relocation of 125 jobs from the UK to “predominantly” Dublin as it starts to implement its Brexit contingency plans.

Dublin attracts post-Brexit business

Only Barclays and Bank of America have so far chosen Ireland as their main European hubs once Britain loses the ‘passporting rights’ that currently allow London-based financial companies to trade freely throughout the EU.Bank of America said moving 125 of the 6,500 people it currently employs in the UK – most in London but about 1,000 at offices in Chester – could be followed by “potential second-phase relocations”, which would mostly be to France, but with some going to Germany and other locations where it currently has bases.The bank said the initial moves to Dublin, which will begin in July and should be completed by December, would comprise “voluntary” relocations of exiting staff and, where necessary, new hires. The staff affected will be in finance, risk, compliance, technology and credit functions.

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In a statement, Bank of America said it would consult staff they planned to relocate but added that any employee who “declines an invitation to relocate to Ireland will be considered for suitable alternative employment, failing which they may be made redundant”.The statement added that, while it was still unclear what arrangements with the EU would affect the UK’s financial sector after Brexit, “it is likely that additional roles (predominantly global banking and markets roles) currently carried out by employees in the United Kingdom will be relocated to other BAML Limited Branch Jurisdictions”.It said the necessity of these second-phase relocations, along with the number of jobs likely to be affected, was still under review and subject to discussions with the Central Bank of Ireland and European Central Bank.

Ensuring uninterrupted banking after Brexit

The bank also announced the merger of its UK and Irish subsidiaries ahead of Brexit, which said it was undertaking to ensure the bank could continue to “operate its business and service its clients on an uninterrupted basis” when the UK leaves the EU.The Irish Independent reported on Friday that the bank’s new Dublin unit would be led by vice-chairman Bruce Thompson, a former group chief financial officer and head of risk for the Bank of America group, and chaired by Anne Finucane, vice chairman at BAML, a member of the group’s executive management team and a board member of the American Ireland Fund.“In March, Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, head of BAML’s European operations resigned from the bank, in an unexpected but reportedly amicable move. Mr Wilmot-Sitwell played a pivotal role in the bank’s Brexit planning and had been named as chairman of the Dublin-based unit earlier this year,” the newspaper added.

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Find out more about the future of Ireland after Brexit in the Spring issue of our magazine 

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