Britain is heading for the European Union exit door.

By 3.30am today it was confirmed that the referendum on whether Britain should stay in the 28-country bloc was a victory for the “leave” campaigners. They won 52 per cent of the vote. Turnout was high: 72 per cent of the more than 46 million registered voters went to the polls.

Hinging on the vote were the existing rights of Bermudians — through the right to a British passport — to live and work throughout the European Economic Area.

International business people on the island also watched closely as the latest vote tallies came in, in the knowledge that a Brexit would have complex and wide-ranging repercussions for their businesses.

Last night, regional splits in opinion became rapidly evident, with Scotland and London strongly in favour of remaining in the EU, while provincial areas of England wanted to leave.

Bermuda’s commercial insurers and reinsurers do a significant volume of business with the EU. According to European Commission figures, the island exported €21.7 billion (about $24.5 billion) worth of services, mostly insurance-related, to the EU in 2014.

Many of the island’s insurers have operations in the Lloyd’s of London market, through which they can access the EU market of more than 500 million people with minimal hurdles, through a “passporting” system that allows them to trade and to establish branches throughout the EU.

Yesterday’s Brexit vote will mean the renegotiation of multiple trade deals, as well as legal, immigration, financial and tax rules.

The decision to leave the EU will hamper Britain’s financial services industry amid destabilising uncertainty and may lead Bermuda to pick up some business from London.

The EU gave Bermuda a seal of approval as an insurance centre this year by recognising the island’s standards of regulation as the equivalent of the EU’s Solvency II regime.

This in turn allows Bermuda reinsurers to trade in the EU without competitive disadvantage.

That was one factor cited by XL Group in its decision to move its corporate domicile to Bermuda from Ireland. The redomestication was approved by XL shareholders yesterday. The referendum result is not legally binding and the decision to leave will still have to go through the UK Parliament, which has a large majority of MPs in favour of remaining in the EU.

Britain will remain a member of the EU for a period of up to two years while a new relationship with Europe is negotiated. This period could be extended at the request of either party.