"The discussions have been constructive but there are still significant differences that need to be resolved," the spokesman told reporters, adding that British negotiator David Frost had spoken to European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic on Friday.
At a time when Brexit is focusing minds on the future of financial services, this is an area of regulatory policy that provides an opportunity for UK financial services to gain competitive advantage on the global stage.
"The speed at which vulnerabilities are remediated should be commensurate with the potential impact that a disruption would cause, and will be an area of supervisory focus," the BoE said.
The value of imports from Britain, which does not include the British region of Northern Ireland, fell to 497 million euros in January compared with 1,403 million euros in the same period a year ago, the Central Statistics Office said.
Imports from Northern Ireland increased to 177 million euros from 161 million in January last year, it said.
We notified the European Commission at official level earlier this week, we also informed the Irish government earlier this week, and then Lord Frost last night in his call with Sefcovic obviously discussed this at length and set out the rationale and reasons for it.
These types of operational measures are well precedented and common in other international trade agreements and are entirely consistent with our intention to fulfill our obligations under the protocol in good faith.
After leaving the EU last year, Britain agreed a free trade deal with the bloc to leave its single market and customs union, which came into force at the beginning of this year.
Britain and the EU have been in talks to try to solve the issues, which some Northern Irish lawmakers say threaten to cut the British province off from the rest of the United Kingdom.
In a letter to Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, Gove wrote: "I can confirm that the United Kingdom is content to agree that the date on which provisional application shall cease to apply ... should be extended to 30 April 2021."
Investors largely shrugged off comments by US President Donald Trump that a nearly $900 billion stimulus bill, agreed upon after months of wrangling in Congress, was "a disgrace" that he might not sign.
Parliament will begin its traditional Christmas break on Thursday having completed all the legislation required for the end of the current Brexit transition period.
Time is now in short supply to reach an agreement with the EU and we expect discussions will continue over the coming days.