Tullett Prebon, a London-based inter-dealer broker described as one of the City's biggest trading firms, will help employees relocate to avoid the United Kingdom's 50 percent tax on bankers' bonuses. The firm is also thinking about relocating its headquarters, Reuters reports:
A Tullett spokesman said the group would look into relocating staff who expressed a wish to quit the UK because it would otherwise run the risk of losing star brokers to rivals.
"The board has concluded that it is in the best interests of shareholders to respond to requests from desks to relocate out of the UK, and will seek to facilitate, were possible and appropriate, relocation to the company's other offices around the world which have more certain taxation regimes," the spokesman said.
Tullet's move comes less than a week after the British government announced plans to slap a one-time tax of 50 percent on bank bonuses totaling more than 25,000 pounds ($40,800). The tax also applies to Britain-based subsidiaries of US companies. Sky News reports that it's not yet clear that Tullet would be subject to the tax, but that executives are worried:
Chief executive Terry Smith emailed senior managers on Friday to say that the company's board had taken the decision to help staff with their requests to relocate to other offices "with more certain taxation regimes".
The email said that the government's "explicit refusal to guarantee that similar 'one off' taxes will not be imposed next year" had caused a number of staff to raise the matter of relocation.
The UK has paid out more than $1.37 trillion in government money to troubled banks.
Sky reports that Tullet employees interested in relocating will have the chance to move to Switzerland, Bahrain, or Singapore.
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