Goldman Sachs Says Brexit Could Affect Operations

Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that Britain's vote to leave the European Union may adversely affect some of its operations in the EU and could require the bank to restructure some of its businesses.

Brexit will also likely change arrangements by which firms in the United Kingdom are able to provide services in the EU, which may adversely affect the way the bank conducts certain operations, the bank said in regulatory filing.

Goldman, which did not break down its exposure to the EU or the UK, said the timing and outcome of Brexit negotiations were highly uncertain.

The bank also raised the upper end of its estimate of legal losses it may face beyond what it has set aside to $2 billion from the $1.9 billion it estimated in the preceding quarter.

In other filings this week, Bank of America also said its businesses and results could be adversely affected by Brexit and that it may incur additional costs if its UK entities found that their ability to conduct business in the bloc was limited.

However, JPMorgan Chase aid it did not believe that any likely scenario from Brexit would threaten the viability of its business units or its ability to serve clients in the EU and the UK.

Citigroup said it had not experienced any significant negative impact on its results or client activity as a result of Brexit.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)