Banks may need to find $30 billion to $50 billion of additional capital to support new European units in the aftermath of a hard Brexit It's worth noting strai

Banks may need to find $30 billion to $50 billion of additional capital to support new European units in the aftermath of a hard Brexit It's worth noting straight away that, as with much commentary about Brexit, this is based on hypothetical analysis of one possible result, in this case, a "hard Brexit" where there is no UK-EU deal on financial services at the point of the UK leaving. There are other plausible outcomes, and no-one really knows how likely each of these possibilities is yet. A hard Brexit, where banks lose privileges access to the European Union’s single market, would “fragment European wholesale banking,” Oliver Wyman partners including Matt Austen and Lindsey Naylor said in the report. “It will also make it significantly less profitable. Banks could see two percentage points knocked off their returns on equity.” It would also most likely cause serious harm to European businesses that currently rely on City-based financial services. Even senior figures like the German finance minister seem to be very wary of allowing this to happen. Both the UK and the EU do therefore have a very good incentive not to screw up that aspect of any successor arrangements.