They conceded, however, that the City will not emerge from Brexit completely unscathed, as some jobs may be moved out of London to Europe. “It is likely that some banks and other financial services companies may choose to move some UK-based activities to the EU before the UK’s withdrawal negotiations are complete, given the uncertainty of the outcome,” they said. Despite Moody's relatively optimistic assessment of London's prospects, Mark Boleat, the policy chief at the City of London Corporation, insisted that passports remained a source of concern. “Passporting is still a crucial issue for financial services firms and the uncertainty is causing real problems for some businesses," he said. "In the City many firms are still analysing what impact the loss of passporting will have on them." "For some retail banks it is of almost no real importance. But for the whole of international investment banking and an institution such as [insurance market] Lloyd's of London it is an absolute necessity. "We are making this point clear to policy makers in our ongoing discussions.”
The loss of European Union (EU) passporting rights for most banks based in the City of London will be “manageable”, dismissing concerns over the UK ’s exit from the EU, according to credit-rating agency Moody's. In a report published on Monday, Moody's said that while it was not expecting any immediate impact on its ratings, there were some risks associated with Brexit.