British finance minister to meet bank bosses on Brexit gameplan

By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Top British bankers will tellfinance minister Philip Hammond on Wednesday to give them aclearer idea of what the country's divorce from the EuropeanUnion will mean for them when they hold their first meetingsince the Brexit vote.

Hammond is to meet with executives from major banks andinsurers, including Barclays, HSBC, StandardLife Santander UK, the British arm of Spain's BancoSantander, according to sources.

Britain's financial sector employs 2.2 million people andits executives say the industry deserves to be a priority in the Brexit negotiations because it is the country's largestexporter and accounts for about 12 percent of its tax revenues.

Britain's shock vote to leave the bloc has forced companiesto rethink their business strategy, which until now has dependedon having an EU "passport" to operate across the region fromLondon.

Bankers say they the next six months will be critical indeciding how much business they might need to move from London,if the EU divorce means a loss of passporting.

Banks and insurers are already making contingency plans toshift parts of their European operations from Britain if Brexitmeans the country does not maintain access to the EU singlemarket.

But some bosses say they are planning blindly, with littleidea of the type of trading deal Britain might pitch for whenits official EU exit process begins.

"If the government doesn't have a clear idea of what itwants the banks will just go," said one senior banking source,who asked not to be named. "They are not going to be hangingaround waiting for the cliff edge."

Any deal to retain market access would likely involve apolitically difficult decision to allow EU citizens the right towork in Britain, something the banks would welcome but whichmany of those who voted to leave the bloc would reject.

The Treasury declined to comment.

On Monday, opposition politicians accused David Davis, theminister charged with negotiating Brexit, of lacking a planafter he addressed parliament on Brexit for the first time sincetaking his role.

The Treasury is currently seeking views from financial lobbygroups and companies about how they will be impacted by losingaccess to the single market, according to people familiar withthe process.

There are similar conversations taking place with the Bankof England and with government departments, including theDepartment for Exiting the European Union, according to anothersenior bank executive.

Banks and other financial firms are also working through arange of lobby groups and individual companies are alsoexpressing their own views.

"There are too many contact points and too many channels,"the executive said. "There is too much duplication and confusionabout who is responsible for making the decisions." (Reporting By Andrew MacAskill, editing by Sinead Cruise andJane Merriman)