International banks in London said to be in 'advanced talks' over mass move to Paris

LONDON, U.K. - Top international banks based in the United Kingdom are in advanced stages of planning to shift some of their operations to Paris as London braces for the impact of Brexit, France's chief financial regulator said.

Paris is among a number of European cities seeking to woo firms considering a move away from London to maintain their access to EU markets.

"In some cases I would say we are still at the level of inquiries or informal inquires by consultants, by lawyers and so on. But in other cases, especially regarding large international banks, it's a normal informal inquiry but they have been undertaking due diligence, and we are receiving lots of practical questions regarding the way they are going to be managed from our perspective, from their relationship with the French regulators," Benoit de Juvigny, secretary general at the Autorite des Marches Financiers, said in an interview with BBC television late Thursday. 

Big banks have publicly voiced their fears about the impact of Brexit, including potential loss of access to the European single market. 

And it's not just banks.

De Juvigny said "many other companies" have started to consider Paris as a base for their EU operations after Brexit is triggered.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has stated that she will formally trigger the two-year EU divorce process by the end of March 2017. 

However, Brussels and London face the daunting prospect of gruelling negotiations on future trade deals with the European Union and countries outside of the bloc. 

EU "passporting" rights currently allow financial products approved by a single regulator in a member state to be sold in the entire European Union. 

Reports noted that the loss of ‘passporting rights’ could delve a heavy blow to London, as about 5,500 firms registered in the U.K. risk losing this access when Britain leaves the bloc, which could push some companies to move at least some of their activities to continental Europe.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Brexit Secretary David Davis were said to have informed a group of ten city bosses that they wouldn't be given any special treatment during the Brexit process.

Further, Business Insider said in its report that the chief of the British Bankers Association, Anthony Browne had revealed in a conference last week that, “All the banks that have any operations across Europe are doing contingency planning," in case Britain's financial passporting rights are lost.