EU plans moving bank regulator from London as euro zone eyes City business

As Germany dominates everything Europe, Frankfurt looks like the likely winner in becoming the world financial hub.

 

BRUSSELS: The EU is preparing to move its European Banking Authority from London following Britain’s vote to leave the Union, EU officials said on Sunday, setting up a race led by Paris and Frankfurt to host the regulator.

Coming a day after Britain’s Jonathan Hill resigned and was replaced as EU financial services chief by the Commission’s “Mr. Euro” Valdis Dombrovskis, the move underlines how the City of London can expect to be frozen out of EU financial regulation – and possibly from Europe’s capital markets – depending on the terms of Brexit.

While those who argued for Britain to leave the EU said the financial industry would thrive without EU shackles, some of its biggest employers including JPMorgan are scouring Europe to find new locations for their traders, bankers and financial licenses.

After Brexit

BERLIN/LONDON (Own report) – Initial outlines of Berlin’s possible reaction to Britain’s EU exit (“Brexit”) are beginning to seep out to the public. According to a report, government circles, who themselves see no reason to fear the turbulences of the financial markets, are hoping that these will persuade a sufficient number of the British to vote in favor of “remaining.” If this does not work, and the British opt for the Brexit, drastic measures should not be excluded. To avoid negative effects on the German economy, some members of the administration are pleading in favor of granting the UK an EU-associate status, similar to that of Norway. However, “a front should be established” to prevent other EU members from following suit and converting to an associate status. The transition to a “core Europe” remains an option and a discussion of it could be initiated at the end of this week. The foreign ministers of the six EU founding countries have planned an exclusive meeting to discuss the consequences of the British referendum.

EU Body to Gain Power Over British Banks

The headlines looked good for Britain. The European Central Bank (ecb) will become the overall bank regulator of only the 17 nations in the eurozone and other nations that opt in, under proposals unveiled September 12. Britain would receive the safeguards it wanted and would not be compelled to submit to the ecb.

But the small print tells a different story.

The Telegraph’s Bruno Waterfield points out that although Britain would be exempt from ecb oversight, it would continue to come under the European Banking Agency (eba), which the proposals strengthen. Here, an “independent panel” would receive “stronger decision making powers … on breaches of EU law and settlement of disagreements, and adapt rules on its composition accordingly.”

That’s not all. Currently the eba’s rulings are only accepted if approved by a majority of the 27 EU nations. The new proposal would reverse this—its rulings would be accepted by default, and only be overturned if a majority of EU nations voted to do so. This majority must include at least three countries inside the eurozone and three countries outside it. It means that if British banks are targeted, the country won’t be able to stop the eba’s action without the help of eurozone countries.

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London’s financial services are vital to Britain. Ten percent of all of the government’s income comes from its taxes. One tenth of the nation’s economy is dedicated to financial services—a higher proportion than any other major nation. The sector employs over 1 million people. It is Britain’s only industry to consistently generate a large trade surplus.

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By expanding the powers of a pan-European banking regulator, it is continuing the assault. The EU is still jealously eying Britain’s finance industry. It would love to see Frankfurt become the new center of European finance.

Full article: EU Body to Gain Power Over British Banks (The Trumpet)