UK says financial reforms will be within same ‘orbit’ as EU, US

To minimise disruption to global corporations, Britain’s updated financial market laws will be broadly aligned with US and European Union standards, according to financial services minister Andrew Griffith on Thursday.

Britain exited the EU in 2020 and has subsequently suggested the “Edinburgh Reforms” in response to efforts to strengthen the City of London as a centre for listing firms following a rebuff from British chip manufacturer Arm.

The EU and the US have also proposed market reforms, and while the British measures were first portrayed as a “Big Bang”-style shake-up, global banks want to prevent significant variation in laws that raises their costs.

Griffith said Britain has a “clear vision” of ambitious practioner-led reforms to make the country’s regulation more proportionate, simpler, modern and based on high standards.

“We are already building great relationships with my European counterparts, same with the U.S., and we want to stay in the regulatory orbit as much as we can, as I know many of you are running cross border businesses,” Griffith said.

“We don’t want to become a third polarity, we simply want to operate in a way that helps your markets work as best as possible,” he told the FIX trading conference.

Danuta Huebner, a European Parliament member who is leading reform of EU securities rules, said the Edinburgh Reforms put increased emphasis on risk taking and competitiveness, but it was unclear if this will mean divergence from the EU.

“My understanding of what is going on on both sides of the Channel is that the language is the one of reform rather than divergence, and I think we should stick to this,” Huebner said, adding it was good news that the EU and UK were finally on a path to normalising post-Brexit relations.