The financial district of London reclaimed its place at the top of Europe’s largest share trading centre rankings in June for the first time since Brexit, muscling out Amsterdam from top spot. €8.9bn (£7.6bn) of shares a day were traded on average at London venues in June, compared to €8.8bn for various Dutch venues, new data published by Cboe Europe has revealed.
The robust trading figures are a symbolic shift of power from Amsterdam to London and show the UK capital has defied concerns that it could recede from being a major player on the global stage after the end of the Brexit transition period.
London’s rise back to the top spot comes despite the EU blocking investors from trading shares in several companies listed in the capital. Brussels has still not recognised rules governing UK financial markets as equivalent to its own even though London formerly left the EU over six months ago.
Analysts have highlighted that the lack of a post-Brexit financial services deal could give the UK greater freedom to follow a path of its own over how it governs its financial services industry.
This freedom may enable London to think “more pragmatically about their future and what they can do to support their trading ecosystems that they couldn’t before” said Sylvain Thieullent, CEO of Horizon, a provider of electronic trading systems. The new figures come as Finance Minister (Chancellor) Rishi Sunak laid out plans to boost the competitiveness of UK’s financial services industry.
“We’re consulting on reforms to the regulation of wholesale capital markets” Sunak told a conference at Mansion House. He highlighted that Brexit presents an opportunity for the UK to craft policy that is more tailored to the specific nuances of Britain’s financial markets. He said the government is considering new measures intended to “boost our competitiveness across both regulation and tax.”
Meanwhile, on another issue, there is a tussle between the UK and the EU – the import of mineral water. The UK has confirmed that major European mineral water brands like Evian, Perrier, San Pellegrino and Volvic will lose their automatic right to export to Great Britain from January next year.
It was suggested in February that mineral water accreditation could be withheld by the UK government as a tit-for-tat response to the EU banning British shellfish. Environment secretary George Eustice wrote to the EU’s food safety chief Sandra Gallina to say “all natural mineral waters which obtained their recognition as a member state will no longer be authorised for import into England” unless they are given accreditation by UK regulators.
It comes after the UK and EU brokered a truce over the so-called sausage wars just days ago, meaning chilled meats can still be sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland until September.
The water brands will still be able to export to Northern Ireland without fresh accreditation as it still follows the EU’s customs union and single market rules. A senior Whitehall source said earlier this year that “there is thought being given to where we can leverage in other areas” as a response to the EU shellfish ban, including mineral water access.
“Mineral water both in the EU and the UK is an extremely regulated business that guarantees high product standards, so there is no need to further complicate its sale with more red tape,” he said.
“If mineral water is to be used as a bargaining tool to pressure the EU about other issues, the government can come up with a further set of rules that may make it difficult - or even impossible - to import EU water.” (The writer is our foreign correspondent based in the UK)
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