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Brits take tentative steps to protect their finances from a hard Brexit

Cherry Reynard
Written By:
Posted:
13/06/2019
Updated:
13/06/2019

British citizens living in the UK or abroad expect the economic situation to worsen in the next year due to Brexit, but believe their personal finances will be able to weather the storm.

A new YouGov survey conducted on behalf of international money transfer service CurrencyFair found that 42 per cent of EU expats and 54 per cent of British citizens living at home believe the economic situation in the UK will worsen in the next 12 months

However, 54 per cent from each group believe their individual economic situation will either stay the same or improve due to Brexit.

The majority (54 per cent) of British citizens in the UK aren’t laying any contingency plans for a hard Brexit, except bracing for a recession. Others plan to liquidate UK assets (17 per cent) or transfer money abroad (13 per cent) if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Paul Byrne, CEO of CurrencyFair, said: ”Expats believe the world has underestimated the financial implications of Brexit and they are proactively managing their personal finances in response,”

British expats are more worried than citizens residing at home about the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s departure from the EU. Areas of concern include the amount of debt they hold to the impact of Brexit on their retirement. Expats are also much more likely to be moving their children’s savings out of the UK.

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UK residents are slightly more concerned about inflation post-Brexit than expats (60 per cent versus 55 per cent), but share the same anxiety about the value of sterling (56 percent versus 59 percent).