The European Union is set to block some countries from accessing parts of the bloc's financial market for the first time, an EU document seen by Reuters showed, a step that will ring alarm bells in Britain in the run up to Brexit. The document takes stock of the EU's so-called "equivalence" system, under which Brussels grants financial-market access to non-EU banks, investment firms, clearing houses or credit rating agencies if it deems their home rules to be suitably aligned with those of the bloc.
It is the system that Britain will likely have to use after it leaves the EU if UK firms are to avoid the expense of setting up new financial hubs in the bloc. The European Commission posted notices on its website earlier this year showing it intended to withdraw equivalence for credit rating agencies in Australia, Brazil, Singapore and Argentina as they had not matched tougher rules for regulation of such agencies in the bloc.