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Euronext, which owns the Irish Stock Exchange, has been lobbying to continue existing arrangements in the short term to ensure that Ireland’s securities markets is not upended by a hard Brexit, according to a notice sent to clients on Friday.
The notice said Euronext had been “actively engaged with senior officials at the European Commission” to ensure the Irish market can immediately use the UK-based settlement house it relies on to finalise trades, if Britain leaves the EU without a political agreement at the end of March.
But Euronext told customers over the next 24 months it would look to migrate Irish market business from its London home to a Belgium-based unit of Euroclear, one of the world’s largest settlement houses. It has now begun a consultation period with customers.
The announcement will ease growing concerns in Dublin that a key pillar of its financial markets infrastructure could be at risk if the UK leaves without a deal. Ireland is alone among EU countries in not having a central securities depository to settle clearing in shares on the Dublin-based exchange. It relies on Euroclear’s London-based operations to settle deals. Nearly 90 per cent of all securities quoted on the Irish exchange also have a listing in London. [...]
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