– This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on March 31, Friday.
Welcome to CNBC Business Daily, I'm Qian Chen.
Major banks in London have tried to reassure their staff over Brexit disruption, including job shits to continental Europe, as the British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the Article 50 on Wednesday.
HSBC and UBS have warned that they could each move about 1,000 jobs out of London
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs was also reported to halve its London workforce to 3,000 and move its key operations to New York and continental Europe.
Now the question is - where exactly are these banking jobs going?
The two main competitors are Frankfurt and Paris.
If we make a comparison here, as you can see in the following chart.
Figures from pay benchmarking company Emolument show that Frankfurt-based analysts in investment banks earning 10% more than comparable analysts in Paris. Data from recruitment firm Robert Walters suggest that third year analysts are paid salaries of just €50k in Madrid -- which means -- 24% less than in Frankfurt.
And even more promising for moving to Frankfurt is its low living costs. Frankfurt is the cheapest major financial center in the EU in terms of apartment rentals and office costs per employee. The combined annual expense totaled just under 30,000 euros in this German city, less than half that of Paris.
However, for longer holidays and better work-life balances, one might want to relocate to Paris or Luxembourg instead.
This chart shows you the paid annual leave and national holidays for each city.
According to figures from the World Bank, workers in Paris get an average of 41 days off per year, while in Frankfurt only get 33 days.
In addition to conditions we mentioned above, political uncertainty is another factor here.
With the French election approaching and candidate Marine Le Pen calling for a Frexit referendum, banks are still waiting before making a final call.
CNBC's Qian Chen, reporting from Singapore.