Brexit: Amsterdam overtakes London as Europe's biggest trading hub
11 February 2021, 11:20 | Updated: 11 February 2021, 12:52
Amsterdam has overtaken London as Europe's biggest financial trading centre following Brexit-related changes to finance rules made last month.
According to data from CBOE Europe first reported by the Financial Times, an average 9.2 billion euros (£8.1bn) worth of shares were traded on Euronext Amsterdam every day in January, alongside CBOE Europe and the Turquoise exchange.
This compares to London's 8.6 billion euros (£7.5bn) in the same time frame.
It comes after the end of the Brexit transition period, which saw US banks no longer able to buy European stocks via London - and as the UK capital and Brussels continue to hash out a memorandum of understanding.
Around 7,000 financial sector jobs have already shifted from the UK to the EU since the 2016 referendum, and have since been followed by the Turquoise exchange platform, owned by the London Stock Exchange Group.
READ MORE: Half of exporters 'hit hard' by border changes, British Chambers of Commerce finds
On Wednesday, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said going forward the EU could not force the UK to follow its rules to the letter, adding that agreements on "equivalence" were needed.
He said: The EU has argued it must better understand how the UK intends to amend or alter the rules going forwards.
"This is a standard that the EU holds no other country to and would, I suspect, not agree to be held to itself. It is hard to see beyond one of two ways of interpreting this statement, neither of which stands up to much scrutiny."
"I'm afraid a world in which the EU dictates and determines which rules and standards we have in the UK isn't going to work."
Mr Bailey added: "I can't predict what will actually happen exactly because it's not within our control, but I think we have to state the argument for why it's important to have global standards, global markets and safe openness. And if we all sign up to that, there isn't a need to go in that direction."
Also responding to the news on Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Chancellor Rishi Sunak would need to do more to protect the City following Brexit.
Speaking to reporters at Heathrow, he said: "Our financial markets are hugely important. I was very worried when I saw the Brexit deal that there was almost no provision for financial services.
"So what I want is to see progress here. The Chancellor said that he would look after the City of London on financial services, he needs to make good on that promise because we absolutely need to protect our financial services."
