City experts today welcomed an agreement between Britain and its European neighbours that should limit Brussels’ stranglehold on London’s financial markets.
The deal, which comes after more than two years of negotiations, centres on a key piece of legislation known as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II.
The agreement between the UK, France and Germany states that European policies or proposals should not “directly or indirectly discriminate against any member state or group of member states as a venue for the provision of investment services and activities in any currency”. This should make it harder for London to be overruled by Brussels on legislation governing the Square Mile.
Michael McKee, head of financial services at DLA Piper, said: “I think that what has been reached is the best outcome — especially given the fact that the political dynamics are pretty negative for the UK in Europe at the moment.”
MiFID II is due to be brought in in 2015 and will affect a wide range of services, from global investment banks which trade complex securities to fund managers investing in pension funds and small High Street financial advisers providing financial advice to the general public.
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