London may lose its commanding position as the financial hub of Europe once Britain has left the European Union, Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Thursday. "It will be hugely complex to allow the City to remain that service centre for Europe if there is a divergence of regulatory standards over time," Netherlands finance minister Dijsselbloem, who chairs gatherings of finance chiefs from the 19-nation eurozone, told a Berlin conference.
Brexit will likely mean London banks lose so-called "passporting rights" which allow them to sell financial services unhindered across the remaining 27 European Union member states - prompting fears for their business and also EU firms'' access to financing. "Declaring the rules and regulations of the UK equivalent to that of the EU at the outset is quite easy," Dijsselbloem said - referring to hopes that the Continent and London could lift barriers to financial flows by recognising one another''s regulatory regime. But "over time, our standards and our way of supervision will start to diverge," he continued.