BoE’s Bailey: EU demanding more of London than other partners
The Bank of England Governor has hit out at the EU for expecting more of London than its other partners when it comes to a post-Brexit financial services agreement.
In his Mansion House speech, Andrew Bailey said Brussels’ demands were far higher than when the bloc negotiated with Canada, the US, Australia and others.
“The EU has argued it must better understand how the UK intends to amend or alter the rules going forwards. This is a standard that the EU holds no other country to and would, I suspect, not agree to be held to itself,” Bailey said.
The Brexit trade deal does not include an EU-wide arrangement for financial services, with UK firms instead having to negotiate a patchwork of individual EU nations’ regulations.
The only way Canada can maintain its pre-Brexit access to the bloc is if Brussels unilaterally grants regulatory equivalence. However the EU believes the UK is destined to diverge from its financial services regulations and has withheld the designation.
It’s not the first time Bailey has hit out at the EU. Last month he told the Westminster committee that Brussels’ demands were “problematic”.
This evening Bailey urged the EU not to pick a fight over financial services – “We have an opportunity to move forward and rebuild our economies, post-Covid, supported by our financial systems. Now is not the time to have a regional argument.”