Finance companies started 2020 in their most optimistic mood in years, hoping for some light at the end of the Brexit tunnel after an extended period of “dire sentiment” since the referendum, according to the latest survey of their views.

The findings, from a quarterly poll of finance businesses conducted by the Confederation of British Industry and Big Four auditor PwC, found that optimism in the sector had improved materially for the first time since the run-up to the Brexit vote in June 2016.