Citigroup, Deutsche Bank beef up Frankfurt presence

Frankfurt is our first choice for headquartering our EU broker-dealer: Citigroup's head of Europe

Two global banks, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, are beefing up their presence in Frankfurt to deal with the impact of Britain leaving the European Union (EU). 

US bank Citigroup said on Thursday that it may need to create 150 new jobs in the EU, as it confirmed it would headquarter its EU trading operations in Frankfurt. 

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer John Cryan said in a video published on Thursday that the German lender expected to add new jobs in Frankfurt, where it will replicate a structure that is interchangeable with its London operations and evolve as Brexit negotiations unfold. Details of banks’ Brexit arrangements are starting to emerge following a July 14 deadline for them to submit details of their contingency plans to the Bank of England. 

“It’s important not to wait until the 11th hour and 59th minute,” Cryan said in the video to staff outlining Deutsche’s Brexit planning strategy. Citi is one of several banks opting to build up a subsidiary in Frankfurt so that its trading operations in the EU can continue without too much disruption when Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019. “Frankfurt is our first choice for headquartering our EU broker-dealer based on the existing infrastructure, and the people and expertise we already have on the ground,” Jim Cowles, the bank’s head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said in a memo to staff. 

He added that the bank also planned to build up its private banking, treasury and trade and investment banking businesses in the EU, while the bank’s London office would remain its EMEA headquarters. 

This would be done by “increasing over time our footprint in other key EU cities including Amsterdam, Dublin, Luxembourg, Madrid and Paris”. Banks have indicated that while they may pick one EU centre to be their main regional subsidiary in the bloc, they are likely to spread their operations across several countries.