Brexit explosion: City on brink of trade revolution – UK eyes mega-deals with NINE nations

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    The UK completed its full departure from the European Union at the end of last year, ending 47 years of membership following the agreement of an 11th-hour trade deal after months of tense and often bitter talks. But financial services was largely bypassed in negotiations between the two sides, with rows intensifying about the City of London’s access to lucrative markets throughout the EU after Brexit. This has led to fears many global financial institutions with a significant presence in the Square Mile would be forced to move bases elsewhere in the continent.

    But in a major boost, City Minister John Glen, who is also Secretary to the Treasury, said the UK will pursue “deeper dialogue” on financial services with a number of trading partners, including the US, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore and China.

    He insisted the move would ultimately help the Square Mile “thrive outside the EU”.

    Mr Glen told the City Week conference in London: “When it comes to developing a more open industry, we’ve been working hard seeking new international financial services agreements.

    “We’ve already signed a number and we’re continuing the financial services dialogues with other countries, including the US, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, China, India and Brazil.”

    He added: “It’s often about a deeper dialogue, it’s actually looking at mutual recognition agreements and indeed, as we have with Switzerland, we’re pursuing an extremely ambitious agreement.”

    Following Brexit, the EU trading bloc has only granted the City of London improved access in a small handful of equivalence decisions.

    Mutual recognition, which is where countries agree each other’s rules are up to the required levels, has proved a major stumbling block in negotiations between the UK and EU over recent months.

    Earlier this year, Britain and Switzerland opened talks over a mutual recognition agreement to reduce hurdles for access to each other’s markets.

    READ MORE: Brexit LIVE: Fury as UK forced to obey 300 EU rules

    The lobby group said service account for four-fifths of the UK economy, with the UK-Australia deal “setting a new global standard for trade in services and delivering real improvements to the framework for financial and related professional services trade between the two countries, critical to meeting shared objectives for a post-pandemic and sustainable recovery”.

    TheCityUK added the new agreement “will help to build on the £5.4billion of UK services exports to Australia, making up 55.8 percent of total UK exports to the country, which will be a core driver of new high-value sustainable jobs in both countries”.

    But Mr Glen has urged caution and warned: “We’ve got a regulatory co-operation annex in the UK-Australia free trade agreement.

    “That needs more work so that we can actually get to the destination we ultimately want to get to.

    “That involves a lot more dialogue than can be achieved in a simple handshake moment.”

    Britain is also set to open talks with Brazil later this year, and has made financial services a key element of its proposed trade deal with India.



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