Three out of four firms that participated in the poll could shift operations from Britain to Ireland or Luxembourg.

PWC Ireland stated in a press release on 16 October:

“Ireland and Luxembourg are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of a post-Brexit transfer of functions out of the UK. Some 39% of European asset managers are looking at relocating functions to Ireland, while 36% cite Luxembourg as their location of choice. The time needed to apply to new regulators for authorisation is a key factor with both Ireland and Luxembourg currently taking six to nine months to process applications.”

44% are still conducting “preliminary assessments of their Brexit needs or have not started planning at all”, and 23% will only finish implementing their Brexit plans in 2021, the consulting firm said.

Andrew O’Callaghan of PWC stated in the announcement that:

“Asset managers are very worried that a no-deal Brexit is a real possibility--the industry needs much greater certainty from regulators and policymakers; for their part, asset managers can’t afford to wait any longer to start making definitive arrangements for the post-Brexit marketplace.”

PWC polled 52 European asset management companies, “some having operations in Ireland,” in September 2018 and released the survey in advance of the consultancy’s Asset Management Summit, held in Dublin on Thursday and Friday of this week.

A survey published by the Financial Times’ FTFM news site in June found that a third of big money managers were in the process of moving operations from Britain to Dublin or Luxembourg as part of their Brexit contingency plan.

According to the Irish Times: “So far, a number of asset managers have opted to move some operations to Dublin ahead of Brexit, including Legg Mason, First State and Baring Asset Management.”

Fund firms including Blackstone, M&G and T Rowe Price have announced pre-Brexit moves to Luxembourg.