The negotiations on the future treaty between the EU and UK met with a proposal from the City of London, Europe’s financial sector capital, to ‘allow cross-border trade in financial services’. The negotiation team lead by Michel Barnier on the EU-side refused this proposal, which adds further turmoil to the City as many corporations have announced their plans to relocate to continental Europe.
The outcome is not very surprising considering the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations, but comes as a strong hit to UK negotiators, following several attempts and working papers meant to show support for the EU regulatory efforts (see here) and to incentivize the British Government to tackle this issue in a more constructive way (see here).