Post-Brexit UK should judge financial services climate against New York and Singapore, says City minister
City minister John Glen this morning said the future regulatory environment for UK financial services should be judged against New York and Singapore.
Glen, speaking at The City Week conference, hinted that global growth meant competition with non-European hubs would be a driving force behind regulatory decision-making, rather than focussing on any potential equivalence deal with the EU.
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The Government, he said, “would continue to look at the best way to regulate our financial services industry in the context of global relationships where a lot of growth is happening outside the EU.
“How do we relate to jurisdictions like New York and Singapore?” he continued.
He said the UK’s goal would be to be “aligned to the best global standards.”
The financial services industry was notably absent from the UK’s trade deal with the EU struck just before Christmas, and a memorandum of understanding between the two to work on financial services regulation in future is still to be ratified by the EU.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has suggested that proposals from the European Union, including an effective guarantee that the UK would adopt EU financial regulation in future in exchange for equivalence, go too far in handcuffing the UK’s abilities to chart its own course.
Glen appeared to echo that sentiment this morning.
“We made a significant number of (equivalence) decisions last November with respect to the EU and it is a matter for them to determine” whether they are acceptable, said Glen.
“The EU will always be a close friend and partner in financial services but I can’t count on how they will make those determinations in the meantime,” he added.