Goldman Sachs and Vodafone are threatening to move UK jobs to the EU

The Brexit jobs exodus is beginning.

Goldman Sachs and Vodafone are both considering moving UK roles overseas following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, according to reports.

The Times reports that Richard Gnodde, co-head of the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, wouldn't rule out moving some or all of the bank's 6,500 UK staff to Europe when asked about Goldman's post-Brexit plans at the paper's CEO Summit on Tuesday.

Gnodde said "every outcome is possible", according to the report, and said: "If passporting was totally removed, we have would have to adjust our footprint and where people were located."

Under the current regime, banks with a UK presence have the right to operate in any of the other 28 EU nations under single market rules that allow them to "passport" their licence across the continent. Once the UK leaves the EU, it is likely that these rights will disappear, meaning banks will have to relocate if they want to continue operating across the continent.

While Gnodde's comments on Goldman's plans are far from concrete, US ratings agency Fitch said in a note on Tuesday that it expects banks to "start strategically implementing parts of their contingency plans rather than wait for trade and service arrangements to be agreed."

JPMorgan has said it may need to move a quarter of its 16,000 UK staff to the EU, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are both believed to be planning to move of 1,000 staff to the EU, although Morgan Stanley denied recent reports, and other banks have announced possible moves too.

Away from banking, Vodafone is also threatening to move jobs out of the UK. The telecoms giant late on Tuesday said it could consider moving its headquarters out of the UK because a "very large majority of our 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the UK."

According to the BBC, the company said in a statement: "The UK's membership of the European Union has been an important factor in the growth of a company such as Vodafone. Freedom of movement of people, capital and goods are integral to the operation of any pan-European business as are single legal frameworks spanning all Member States."

Vodafone says no firm decision has yet been taken as the framework of any potential post-Brexit Britain-EU trade deal is not yet clear. But if it does end up relocating its headquarters it could mean a huge number of job losses. Vodafone employs 13,000 across Newbury and London, according to the Financial Times.