LONDON (Reuters) – Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday that the European Union’s approach to financial services trade with Britain after Brexit was problematic.
“I fail to see why people would want to close themselves off from open markets. But the situation we find ourselves in is that the EU has said that it wants more information from the UK on what its future intentions are on regulation,” Bailey told lawmakers in Britain’s parliament.
“Now I think that’s quite problematic, frankly, in terms of equivalence,” he added, saying it was unrealistic for British rules to stay set in stone or move in lock-step with the EU.
A trade deal struck between Britain and the EU, which came into effect on Jan. 1, did not cover financial services.
Bailey added that he did not want equivalence at any price, and that an end of March deadline for talks with the EU on this was reasonable.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, writing by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)
