City of London’s Plight Laid Bare as Brexit Deal Hopes Fade

Securing equivalence conflicts with moves to set own rules
U.K. to lift trading ban on Swiss shares in the first quarter

The city of London lost its rights to access the single market on Dec. 31. CBOE Europe President David Howson, Aquis Exchange Chief Executive Officer Alasdair Haynes, and Bruegel Director Guntram Wolff discuss European share trading leaving London with Brexit on Bloomberg Television.(Source: Bloomberg)

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Silla Brush, Harry Wilson, and Viren Vaghela

January 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM UTC

Updated on

January 11, 2021 at 10:31 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Just over a week in, the City of London is coming to a hardening realization about its post-Brexit future: a financial services accord with the European Union may be too little, too late to protect its dominant position.

Negotiations are set to kick off soon to determine the outlines of regulatory co-operation between the U.K. and EU, after the industry was largely sidelined in the trade deal that marked Britain’s split from the EU on Dec. 31. A March deadline has been set and so far details -- including who will head up the discussions -- are scarce.