US banks criticise lack of Brexit clarity and warn on jobs

Secret meeting with US commerce secretary

A number of prominent Wall Street banks and other large financial institutions with London operations have expressed concerns over the UK's failure to provide clarity on Brexit plans in a closed-door meeting with President Donald Trump's US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, the Financial Times reports.

The meeting took place last week, according to people briefed on the discussions, at which the groups criticised Britain's unstable government and slow progress in Brexit planning. They warned Ross this lack of clarity could force them to start moving thousands of jobs out of London in the near future, the FT reports. According to sources, the attendees - which included JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and HSBC - said jobs would move back to the US or other European capitals as banks begin to put in place their worst-case Brexit contingency plans. "There was broad discussion around th...