Brexit

Financial services veteran Marshall Bailey has been appointed chair of LCH Group, the clearing firm majority owned by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

The identity of the new European capital markets and financial hub after Brexit has been a hot topic of debate ever since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, but as firms have chosen different locations across the continent in which to base their EU27 headquarters it is becoming clear that no single location is likely to replace London.

The City has prepared as best it can for a no-deal Brexit, but it's not just the immediate effects it needs to worry about — the UK government’s disdain for the industry its Brexit planning will diminish UK-based financial services for many years, and the government doesn't seem to care.

More finance and derivatives industry groups this week came out against the leverage ratio and its impact on client clearing, backing the findings of an August report by global watchdogs. In a joint paper, trade bodies including the FIA also expressed concern over Brexit and its potential impact on client clearing.

Three executives from global bulge bracket banks have called for more supervisory cooperation over Brexit, particularly on the side of the EU. All three expressed hopes for a Brexit deal that was more bespoke than just third country equivalence.

Andrew Bailey, CEO of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on Thursday backed calls for deference espoused by US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Christopher Giancarlo, in a speech at the Eurofi Financial forum in Vienna.

One of the central planks of the UK government’s policy on how the financial services sector would cope with a no-deal Brexit could turn out to be illegal under World Trade Organisation rules, and could be challenged by other WTO members.

The UK’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit published this week include a proposal to strip away preferential capital treatment for EU27 exposures — meaning a hit to UK bank capital ratios at the worst time imaginable.

Global investor confidence in UK equities has tumbled so far in August, according to the latest fund manager survey from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, marking the largest monthly drop in sentiment towards the UK since the Brexit referendum.

Interdealer broker TP ICAP revealed on Tuesday that it had chosen Paris as its post-Brexit hub in the European Union, as new CEO Nicolas Breteau called for the flexibility to pay company brokers the "market rate".

Credit Suisse has rehired a senior FIG banker from Morgan Stanley to become co-head of EMEA debt capital markets — a role which will be based in Paris, rather than London.

Deutsche Bank's decision to clear around half of its euro swaps business in Europe might have caused a stir in the Square Mile this week but a closer look at the overall clearing numbers show that London continues to dominate the global swap clearing markets, writes Ross Lancaster.