European policy-makers are set to allow data to continue to be transferred between the UK and the EU — a welcome move for City firms and the first sign of improving relations between the two sides after a series of post-Brexit spats.

In a draft decision, issued by the European Commission on the 19 February, the EU's executive body said it had concluded "that the UK ensures an essentially equivalent level of protection" on the protection of personal data as that in operation in the bloc.