A historic referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave European Union or not has started.
An estimated 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part in the vote – a record number for a UK poll.
It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.
The referendum ballot paper asks the following question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
Whichever side gets more than half of all votes cast is considered to have won.
Financial institutions are reinforcing teams to cope with the prospect of frantic trading through the day and the world’s leading central banks say they are ready to react in any eventuality.
In Europe, the referendum has raised concerns of a domino effect of exit votes that would imperil the integrity of the bloc, already buffeted by the eurozone and migration crises.
Though many voters fret over the financial consequences of a Brexit, others relish the prospect of taking back power from Brussels and reining in high levels of immigration.