BOE Joins Debate on Financial Rules Amid U.K.-EU Brexit Clash

(Bloomberg) --

Two top Bank of England officials suggested that the U.K. financial system’s rules may have to diverge from the European Union’s after Brexit -- a topic that’s becoming as a major point of contention between the two sides.

Outgoing Governor Mark Carney told Parliament on Tuesday that Britain’s view of EU regulation may change over time, especially since it will no longer be able to help set the rules.

Jon Cunliffe, his deputy for financial stability, said the departure might be needed to better serve the City of London, even as he called for “good faith” on both sides.

The access of London financial services firms to the EU is set to be a key battleground in the U.K.’s negotiations with the bloc. Banks are concerned that once Britain leaves the EU, they will no longer enjoy the automatic rights that allow them to operate freely across 27 member states.

Kidding Themselves

Michel Barnier, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, on Tuesday rebuffed U.K. calls for a so-called permanent equivalence arrangement to allow firms continued access to the single market. “Certain people in the U.K. should not kid themselves about this,” he said.

The U.K. Treasury had included the demand in a draft of its opening positions for next month’s trade negotiations -- some of which were revealed in a document that was photographed as Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid carried it in Downing Street on Monday.

While the BOE is not part of the negotiations, its officials have repeatedly said that Britain shouldn’t be a rule taker after Brexit. The theme again reverberated through Carney’s comments on Tuesday.

“If you’re not at the table to set the rules, it’s unlikely that those rules are going to be exactly what you think they should be,” he told a House of Lords committee. “There’s just a conceptual challenge with not being there. Those risks will just grow with time.”

Transitional Period

Cunliffe, meanwhile, said that the EU had more to gain than lose from a relationship with London, calling for “partnership rather than rivalry.” Still, he recognized that as a third country, the U.K. would lose its involvement in developing regulations, which could force the need for divergence.

The U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31 and is now in a transitional period lasting until the end of the year, under which existing EU rules will continue to operate.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he wants to finalize a new trade deal before the transition phase runs out and has ruled out any extension to the negotiations. If the two sides fail, the U.K. will crash out of the bloc and default to trading on terms set by the World Trade Organization.

--With assistance from Zoe Schneeweiss, William Horobin, Jeannette Neumann and Catherine Bosley.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Alaa Shahine

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