Barclays Plc is considering moving its global headquarters from London to New York due to the threat of higher capital requirements in the UK, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The bank has had preliminary conversations with U.S. regulatory officials on a move and is conducting an analysis of whether switching its domicile makes sense, the newspaper reported, citing a person involved in the process.

Barclays declined to comment on the report.

UK banking regulators have indicated that banks should hold Tier 1 capital ratios above 10 percent. That level is higher than the 7 percent dictated by the Basel III accord.

If Barclays does move its headquarters to the United States, it could cost the company several hundreds of millions of pounds plus another 30 million pounds ($48 million) in preparatory work, the Journal said. But the bank could also avoid having to hold significantly more capital than its competitors, the newspaper said.

The bank will not make a final decision until at least September, when the direction of UK and U.S. financial regulation is clearer, the Journal said.

($1= $1.6032 pounds sterling)

(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York, additional reporting by Steven Slater in Dublin; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

United kingdom Barclays