The UK has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union to re-open communications about the financial service industry.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt penned the deal in Brussels on Tuesday with Mairead McGuinness, the EU commissioner for financial stability.
With @jeremy_hunt, I signed the EU-UK MoU on financial services regulatory cooperation.
While the UK is no longer in the EU or Single Market, we are setting up a forum to discuss things like regulatory changes & risks to financial markets.
My remarks: https://t.co/c94GDSL8pM pic.twitter.com/zsxIcGUUss
— Mairead McGuinness (@McGuinnessEU) June 27, 2023
Hunt believes the agreement can help support London and the UK in being a global hub for financial services – a sector that makes up more than a tenth of the British economy.
EU officials confirmed “it will set up a forum to facilitate dialogue” but doesn’t “restore UK access to the EU”.
Hunt said: “The UK and EU’s financial markets are deeply interconnected and building a constructive, voluntary relationship is of mutual benefit to us both.
“This agreement with our European partners as sovereign equals builds on our arrangements with the US, Japan and Singapore, helping to support the sector’s role as a global financial services hub.”
McGuiness also welcomed the deal, saying the Windsor Framework deal, which addressed concerns over Northern Ireland, was able to ease tensions between the two.
“This has allowed us to move forward in a spirit of partnership, based on trust, cooperation and delivering benefits for people on both sides,” she added.