UK currency exchange firm flags post-Brexit move to Dublin

Currency exchange operator LMAX Exchange has said it plans to seek approval to be based in Ireland if the UK government doesn’t maintain its EU passporting rights for financial services as a result of Brexit.

“LMAX Exchange will begin regulatory filings in Ireland in January 2017, if no UK government assurances are received,” LMAX said in a statement this week.

The comments come two months after Bats Global Markets Inc's European unit, which has emerged in the past decade to become Europe's largest stock exchange, warned it may open another office in the EU, potentially in Dublin, to make sure its business isn't interrupted.

London-based Bats accounts for almost a quarter of daily trading in European shares.

Losing access

LMAX, which has clients in over 90 countries, said it risks losing access to 25 per cent of its client base if the UK loses access to the EU single market.

“The UK is the world’s FX [foreign exchange] centre, twice the size of the US market, and accounts for over 40 per cent of the $5 trillion a day global FX industry,” LMAX said. “The backbone of global trade, the FX market in London depends on regulatory equivalence with the EU.”