Deutche Bank weighs up Brexit options

Deutsche Bank is studying the potential impact of Britain's exit from the European Union on the firm's business in the country and weighing options that may include moving activities to its home nation.

Germany’s biggest bank this month formed a working group that comprises senior executives from Deutsche Bank’s strategy, risk and UK management teams, a spokesman for the lender said late Monday. The panel is in an early stage of scenario planning and no decisions have been made.

Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative Party won a surprise majority in the May 7th election, has promised a referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney called last week for the government to act with "appropriate speed" on the vote. The Confederation of British Industry, part of the country's business lobby, asked members to campaign for Britain to remain within a "reformed EU."

Deutsche Bank has had a presence in Britain since 1873 and employs 9,000 people in the country. Other foreign lenders with a large UK presence, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase and Co., Bank of America Corp., BNP Paribas SA and UBS Group AG, haven't begun formal contingency planning for the referendum, the Financial Times said in a report on Deutsche Bank earlier on Monday.

BLOOMBERG