London
Europe’s financial capital is feeling the cold of Brexit but UK officials insist the City of London is suffering a temporary blip and is well-positioned to profit from new trading horizons.
For the first time last month, as Britain’s withdrawal from the EU took full effect, London’s financial district lost its European share trading crown to Amsterdam.
Researchers at IHS Markit attributed the decline to a “relatively hard Brexit”, and the UK government’s failure so far to persuade Brussels to grant full trading rights to City-based firms under a regime known as “equivalence”.
London’s daily trading volumes in other areas such as derivatives and foreign exchange still vastly outweigh its European neighbours, and Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, played down the development.—AFP
