In a voicemail sent to all London employees’ phones on Friday, Gnodde sought to reassure staff that despite “intensively” preparing for a range of possible outcomes, no big changes were imminent.
“All of this work leads us to conclude that although Brexit may well bring some changes to our footprint, a lot will continue to operate as it does today.”
Gnodde said that the Wall Street firm would only be able to make long-term decisions on its future footprint once negotiations between Britain and the EU were complete.
“We also understand that you will have many questions regarding the implications of Brexit,” Gnodde said in the voicemail.
“We are sensitive to those concerns, and want you to know that we will share any information on changes that will impact our European footprint as quickly as we can.”
Banks are treading carefully, enacting two-stage contingency plans, to avoid losing nervous London-based staff as they work out how many jobs will have to move to continental Europe as Britain exits the European Union.
This first phase involves relatively small numbers to make sure the requisite licenses, technology and infrastructure are in place, while the next requires longer-term thinking on what their European business will look like in the future, which is when bigger moves might take place.
