By Olivia Oran and Anjuli Davies
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Big Wall Street banks are scrambling to figure out what to do with their assets, workers and financial licenses abroad in light of the British vote to exit the European Union (EU).
Bank executives have been making contingency plans for months, but many were still surprised by the outcome of the vote. And even with those plans, huge uncertainties remain about when Britain will formally exit the EU, and what cities could replace it as a financial hub across the Atlantic for trading, lending and dealmaking in Europe.
"The EU is going to change," said one London-based banker. "It can't ever remain as it was."
Among the questions being asked in C-suites across Wall Street: What's the best European city to house a broker-dealer, if not London? Does Frankfurt have the capacity to house tens of thousands of bankers and their families? Will language be an issue in cities where English is not the primary tongue? Will American bankers abroad be able to find schools for their kids?
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Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin are all in contention for relocation.
Even with all that uncertainty - and a timetable of at least two years for Britain to formally exit the EU - U.S. banks appeared to be moving quickly to respond to the Brexit decision.
Morgan Stanley
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
Meanwhile, on trading floors, a panicked atmosphere was palpable as financial markets reacted wildly to the news. [nL8N19G53E]
The British pound hit a low not seen for more than 30 years and world stocks saw more than $2 trillion wiped off their value. Shares of big U.S. banks fell sharply as markets opened in New York, with Citigroup
Earlier in the day, senior Wall Street bankers were trying to calm nerves in London.
Bank of America Corp's
Goldman's co-head of investment banking Richard Gnodde was walking the trading floor at 6 a.m., talking to staff and trying to reassure them. Through the morning, other senior bankers were giving similar morale talks, telling employees that Goldman would help them in any geographical transition.
Edward Chan, a partner at the law firm Linklaters, noted that these types of reorganizations are complicated and often take 4-5 years, even though the Brexit timetable only extends 2 years.
"Where exactly do they move to? There's no clear answer on that," said Chan. "You might end up having a more fragmented financial industry in Europe."
(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise in London and Dan Freed and David Henry in New York; Writing by Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Nick Zieminski)