Reuters: Britain wins safeguard in EU market rules deal

17 June 2013

Britain won backing from its European Union partners to prevent parts of its financial services sector potentially having to relocate to the eurozone.

Britain is already taking the European Central Bank to the bloc's highest court for its policy of requiring clearing houses which help process a significant amount of euro-denominated transactions to be based in the single currency area. EU ambassadors formally endorsed a preliminary deal on updating the bloc's MiFID securities trading rules to take into account advances in technology and lessons from the financial crisis.

Britain, as part of agreeing to that deal, called for a new clause to be inserted and this was backed by ambassadors. The clause says no action taken by any regulator or the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) should discriminate against any Member State as a venue for the provision of investment services and activities in any currency.

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