LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Sunday downplayed the risk that the European Union would take business away from the city of London after Brexit, saying the real challenges come from New York, Tokyo and other areas.
Britain completed its exit from the EU in late 2020, but the last-minute free trade agreement that replaced membership in the bloc did not include free trade arrangements in financial services – the engine of the UK economy.
Data released Thursday shows that Amsterdam has supplanted London as Europe’s largest equity trading center after Britain exited the EU’s internal market and picked up some of the UK’s derivatives trading.
“If we’re really honest about it, the challenge for London as the global financial center around the world will come from Tokyo, New York and other areas, rather than from those European hubs, especially as they start to throw up trade barriers. and investments, ”Secretary of State Dominic Raab told the BBC.
Britain has yet to receive equivalence status in terms of financial services regulation that would free trade, as the EU says it needs information on Britain’s intentions to deviate from EU rules. Britain says it has provided all the necessary paperwork.
Raab said the EU risked undermining its own competitiveness if it put up barriers to “do some business from the city here and there”.
The EU authorities have previously made it clear that they want euro-denominated financial activities to be moved from London to building a private capital market under direct Brussels supervision.
Reporting by William James; Editing by Gareth Jones and Barbara Lewis