By Huw Jones
LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - The long-delayed forum for
European Union and British financial regulators won't reopen the
door for London's financial centre to the bloc, EU lawmakers
were told on Tuesday.
The Windsor agreement on EU-UK arrangements for Northern
Ireland will mean that the delayed UK-EU memorandum of
understanding (MOU) for a regulatory forum will be implemented,
raising hopes of improving market access later on.
"This could really unlock cooperation, but it's our view
there won't be that many material changes coming out of the MOU
and the regulatory forum in terms of cooperation between the UK
and the EU," Thorsten Beck, director of the Florence School of
Banking and Finance, told the European Parliament.
"It's more like a long term process going forward."
Beck and Christy Ann Petit, assistant professor at Dublin
City University, were being questioned by lawmakers over a
report they wrote for the EU parliament on post-Brexit financial
services in Britain.
Britain is struggling with identifying post-Brexit growth
opportunities and the prospect of regaining broad access to the
EU financial market is limited, the report said.
While Britain has begun to downplay the need for major
divergence with the EU, the EU has proposed a draft law to force
banks and asset managers to shift chunks of euro derivatives
clearing from London to the EU.
Beck said there was a tension between the UK government
pushing for a globally competitive financial sector, and UK
regulators focusing on financial stability.
"There will be pressure on regulators to compromise
stability in favour of competitiveness at some point," Beck
said.
Britain's finance ministry has said it won't "unlearn"
lessons from the global financial crisis or undermine the
independence of regulators to keep the financial system stable
and protect consumers.
Petit said she did not expect major divergence between EU
and UK rules, given Britain seeks to comply with international
financial rules.
(Reporting by Huw Jones
Editing by Mark Potter)
Messaging: huw.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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