Financial services companies have moved almost £800bn in staff, operations and customer funds to Europe since the Brexit referendum, according to a report from consultancy EY.

The study from EY, which tracks the public declarations of 222 of the largest UK financial services firms over plans to reduce the effect of an uncertain Brexit on operations, highlights the broad-ranging business ramifications of Britain’s divorce from the EU.

“As things stand, and per regulatory expectations, financial services firms have no choice but to continue preparing on the basis of a ‘no deal’ scenario,” said Omar Ali, UK financial services leader at EY.

The £800bn figure was determined using just the public announcements of the companies included in the survey, which means that the number could prove “conservative” according to EY. Not all of the firms that have revealed Brexit plans have publicly declared the value of their transferred assets, it said.

EY said that some asset managers were moving EU customer assets out of UK funds into Luxembourg vehicles to protect clients, for example, while banks were transferring some client business out of the UK and booking balance sheet assets through a European hub.

“This number is still modest given total assets of the UK banking sector alone is estimated to be almost £8tn but may become larger as we move towards Brexit,” EY said.

Companies in the study have added nearly 2,000 new Europe-based roles since the referendum, although the study estimates that the number could rise closer to 7,000 in the near future.

As of the end of November, 36 per cent of surveyed companies have confirmed or stated their intentions to relocate some operations to Europe. This includes 55 per cent of banks, investment banks and brokerages, 44 per cent of wealth and asset managers, and 42 per cent of insurers and insurance brokers.

Thirty per cent of companies have confirmed a destination where they will add staff or increase operations in response to Brexit. Dublin, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Paris are the most popular locations, EY said. Companies confirming moves or intentions to bolster operations in Dublin are up by 6 from last quarter, to 27 in total.

Mr Ali said: “The City is further ahead in implementing its Brexit contingency plans than many other sectors . . . The closer we get to March 29 without a deal, the more assets will be transferred and headcount hired locally or relocated.”

From September 2018 to November 2018, nine companies announced that they will be implementing product adjustments because of Brexit ranging from transferring customer insurance policies to new European subsidiaries to setting up European fund ranges. Two retail banks will set aside specific funds to help clients and extra money to help manage Brexit.

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