The City of London's Supremacy Goes Very Deep
The risk for Europe’s post-Brexit trading infrastructure is that liquidity is dispersed in several small national pools rather than matching London’s depth.
Liquid finance.
Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN/AFPNerves are fraying about what happens to the financial services industry once the dust clears from Brexit. No one really knows whether there will be some form of equivalence between the City of London and the European Union on securities trading, even if common rules on derivatives clearing have been extended until mid-2022.
Those bankers who were asking the “can I trade?” question have been reassured by their employers’ comprehensive contingency planning. Wall Street’s finest have had to make sure there will be no disruptions for their clients. The implementation of new mirror trading venues on the continent has picked up pace with recent announcements by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the London Stock Exchange’s Turquoise Europe platform. But that is prudent planning to ensure smooth access for clients, not a guarantee that trading volumes will migrate from London.