For London’s financial sector, one central question for the Brexit negotiations is how best to continue trouble-free trade with the EU. Current passporting arrangements form part of the Single Market and cannot continue, as they would subject the UK to the EU’s rules, which is politically unsustainable.

This problem has been some years in the making. Europe’s process-based approach to regulation has become increasingly divergent from traditional UK rules, which have favoured outcome-based methods. The EU vision of a single rulebook, integrated supervision and committee-based procedures has often sat uneasily with the City of London. At least this tension will be relieved by Brexit when each jurisdiction becomes able to regulate financial services in accordance with its own principles and needs.