It is debatable whether the regulation of the City of London is the best in the world, but it is certainly among the best. It has also been significantly tightened up since the Credit Crunch and at the moment it is fully aligned with that of the EU.
Be that as it may the EU has not yet given the UK “equivalence”, that is giving permission for financial firms in the UK to do business in the EU; because UK regulation is as good at EU regulation. It doesn’t have to be identical, just as good.
The Governor of the Bank of England seems aggrieved that this has not happened already, as if this is some kind of personal attack on his abilities, and he has accused the EU of holding the UK to standards that are too high. In short, the EU wants to know if, when and how the UK means to change its regulations post Brexit. Andrew Bailey says “This is a standard that the EU holds no other country to and would, I suspect, not agree to be held to itself.”
A moot point but not the real one, financial services were left out of the Brexit trade deal and “equivalence” is the only offer around. If the UK wants it, it has to satisfy the EU’s requirements, whether it thinks that is fair or not.
https://jonty.substack.com/
If you are a isolationism and protectionist organisation why would you grant equivalence except on your own unfavorable terms? Germany and France always wanted to take these markets and until now failed.
The City of London is most probably reshaping and rebuilding its offerings to its customers and will I'm sure come roaring back.
Amsterdam was always a more competitive market comparable with London, so no surprises there. Gives me confidence we might over time win back some work. In the past I was an analyst serving a Geneva energy trading room and I really would encourage London and Geneva to team up on Financial Services to take on Frankfurt and Paris markets.
We may be forced to fight for business with one hand tied behind our backs but I believe in London and we will be back bigger and stronger.