Brexit threat to UK jobs at Visa
Hundreds of UK-based jobs at Visa are in danger following the fallout from Brexit, according to Sky News.
Sky News says it “has learnt that an agreement in the recent £17.5 billion takeover of Visa’s European operations by its American sister company included a stipulation that data from Visa card transactions should not leave Europe”.
Nothing is definite yet and no decisions have been made, but that stipulation raises the spectre of British jobs moving to the continent.
A source in Frankfurt, speaking to Sky News, says “German regulators, and possibly others elsewhere in the EU, were expected to push for Visa’s UK-based data centre operations to be shifted to a market within the EU once Britain leaves the trading bloc”.
Over 1,000 people work for Visa in London, with hundreds of them involved in data centre-related activities.
“The process and timing for the UK leaving Europe remains unclear,” a Visa spokeswoman says.
“While we continue to monitor the situation carefully, it is premature to speculate on whether possible changes to the location of our data centres would make sense or be required.”
There will be blood
In the wake of Brexit, these kinds of scare stories (and real ones) will no doubt increase.
A number of large investment banks, such as Citi, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan – all part of the ‘Remain’ campaign – have said they “will be forced to move roles to other EU financial centres if the UK is denied access to the single market’s passporting regime”. HSBC has also hinted at a move to France or Germany.
Elsewhere, rival cities to London, such as Frankfurt, will be looking to lure business away from the UK thanks to rules and regulations created by the EU.
If you’re not fed up by this subject yet, an opinion piece “Brexit and financial services: the only certainty is uncertainty” looks at the UK’s future.
