Insurance and pension provider Aegon UK – formerly known as Scottish Equitable – is to set up a new registered company in England and Wales to protect policy-holders from the potential impact of a Yes vote.
Chief executive Adrian Grace said the move was to protect customers from risks associated with the economic set-up of an independent Scotland.
However, he said it was “unlikely” that any staff would be forced to move south of the border from Scotland.
Mr Grace said: “As customers, they won’t want to take currency risk, they won’t want to operate in a potentially different regulatory environment – when they took out a particular policy, they didn’t sign up for that, so we have to protect their interests going forward.”
While he conceded that regulators may force the company to move its operations, he said that taxes would be paid where the company’s head office was located, which would be in England.
Mr Grace said: “Our strong preference is absolutely not to move our operations.
“We’ve had 170 years in Scotland and we are very committed to Scotland.
“But it may well be that we are forced by regulators or other institutions to move certain people.”
Mr Grace stressed that the company was not taking sides in the independence debate and said that he had not had any contact from the UK Government asking him to speak out.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, chief executive of pro-independence Business for Scotland, said that warnings of negative economic consequences of a Yes vote were “speculative” and suggested that some business commentary was being orchestrated by supporters of a No vote.
Mr MacIntyre-Kemp added: “Individuals themselves may not have had any contact, but there’s definitely a theme running through this. We’ve heard it all before.
“In their annual reports, a lot of these businesses said that if there was uncertainty, then that would make a difference. However, that is if there is uncertainty.”
Following reports that major retailers were preparing a joint letter warning that independence could force prices up, Mr MacIntyre-Kemp said: “I understand that Morrison’s and Tesco are refusing to sign this retailers’ letter and we’ve had Tesco say that price rises are entirely speculative. We are dealing here with something that is entirely speculative because there will be negotiations and prices may well go down in an independent Scotland if the circumstances are right.”
He rejected suggestions that an independent Scotland would be forced to join the euro to stay in the EU: “That is a complete falsehood perpetrated by the No campaign. If you want to join the euro, you have to have your own currency, you have to link your currency to the exchange rate mechanism for two years and you have to meet the joining criteria.
“And you can decide not to join by having a referendum, as many countries – like Denmark – have done.
“Scotland doesn’t qualify to join the euro because we don’t have our own currency.”