Citigroup set to commit to EU hub in Frankfurt

Citigroup will be the latest bank to commit to opening an EU hub in Frankfurt when it formally unveils plans that would see up to 200 jobs leave the UK due to Brexit.

Between 150 and 200 client-facing roles in sales and trading could be relocated from the UK to its Frankfurt office - which currently houses around 350 staff - as a result.

The bulked up Frankfurt office will become a broker-dealer entity, allowing the US bank to continue serving EU clients after Britain leaves the bloc.

However, the move will not impact the location of its European headquarters, which will remain in London.

Citi currently employs around 9,000 staff in the UK, 6,000 of which are based in the City.

Citi declined to comment.

The announcement - expected later this week - will be the culmination of months of planning, with the bank's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) boss James Cowles having told staff in an internal memo earlier this year that it was looking at moving some front office staff out of the UK.

Mr Cowles said in the memo that the bank had been preparing for Brexit since before the referendum last June, and that decisions were being made on the assumption of a hard Brexit, in which the UK loses access to the single market for financial services.

"A hard Brexit would require certain changes, including relocating certain client-facing roles to the EU from the UK, and the possible creation of a new broker-dealer entity within the EU," he said.