French ambassador says London’s financial crown is now fair game for Paris
France might not be totally thrilled about Brexit but that's not going to stop Paris swooping in on London's financial crown, bankers were warned today.
Speaking at a British Bankers' Association conference, her Excellency Sylvie Bermann, French ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, noted France "didn't want the UK to leave because we are very similar", but added Paris, which is "the biggest financial market on continental Europe", now considered London's banking best to be "fair competition".
However, Bermann added the final Brexit deal would be more than about banking, remarking that there were important issues relating to aspects like security and defence that would also need to be hammered out.
"The negotiations will be difficult," she said.
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Earlier this week, shadow City minister Jonathan Reynolds told CityAM the UK would be better off securing one holistic Brexit deal, rather than aiming for sector-specific mini agreements, because other EU capitals were so keen to overtake London as the financial hotspot, they would surely give the UK a hard time over financial services rights.
But, last week, Sir Jon Cunliffe, the Bank of England's deputy governor with responsibility for financial stability, told the House of Lords EU financial affairs committee that businesses which choose to leave London following Brexit would be much more likely to head to the New York than elsewhere in Europe. Deutsche Bank's chief economist David Folkerts-Landau expressed a similar sentiment earlier on in the conference.