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08 January 2021

FT: City of London to bring back Swiss stock trading following EU exit


Move marks first regulatory break from Brussels for UK financial services

The UK will bring trading in Swiss shares back to London in the coming weeks, marking the first significant split from EU policy on financial services since the end of the Brexit transition period. British officials will launch legislation in parliament as soon as next week to reverse a previous EU ban on the practice, the Treasury said.

Trading in EU shares fled London this week, with about €6.5bn in trades a day shifting to Paris, Amsterdam and elsewhere after the UK dropped out of the EU single market — the first of what is likely to be a series of Brexit blows to the City.

The EU has so far refused to recognise most of the UK’s regulatory systems as “equivalent” to its own, a stance that Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, said earlier this week was unlikely to change soon. The Swiss plans represent the clearest sign yet that the UK has opted to eschew EU standards in favour of opportunities elsewhere. “From a UK government point of view, the ability to diverge on financial services regulation is fundamental to Brexit and they are prepared to forgo the benefits of equivalence in order to preserve the right to diverge,” said Jonathan Master, partner in the financial service group at Eversheds Sutherland in London.

Brussels revoked its recognition of Swiss stock exchanges in 2019 in a dispute over stalled trade negotiations, sucking €1.2bn in daily trades away from the City....

more at FT



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