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(Adds comments by Bailey, background)
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew
Bailey urged the European Union not to pick a fight with Britain
over trade in financial services after Brexit and he said the
bloc was demanding more of London than of other partners.
The City of London has been largely cut off from the EU
since Jan. 1 and Brussels has said it won't be rushed into
decisions on granting access for financial firms in Britain,
saying it wants to see how far UK rules will diverge.
"This is a standard that the EU holds no other country to
and would, I suspect, not agree to be held to itself," Bailey
said in a speech on Wednesday.
"We have an opportunity to move forward and rebuild our
economies, post-COVID, supported by our financial systems," he
said. "Now is not the time to have a regional argument."
Bailey said rules for the financial services industry must
adapt as the world changes but he ruled out a sudden lowering of
rules in Britain after its exit from the EU.
"Let me be clear, none of this means that the UK should or
will create a low-regulation, high-risk, anything-goes financial
centre and system," he said.
Britain's new trade deal with the bloc, which took effect on
Jan. 1, does not cover financial services. The City of London
likely to get only limited "equivalence"-based access to the EU
financial market for the foreseeable future.
Earlier on Wednesday, consultants PwC estimated Britain's
tax receipts from its financial services sector were set to
start falling from this year as a result of Brexit and the
impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 135 billion-pound industry accounts for more than 10% of
UK tax receipts.
Separately, the Centre for Economics and Business Research
said Brexit will potentially cost London's economy 9.5 billion
pounds a year.
(Reporting by Huw Jones and David Milliken
Writing by William Schomberg)
