Continental shift: Safeguarding the UK’s financial trade in a changing Europe

In a report looking at the costs and benefits of EU financial regulation published in December 2011, Open Europe estimated that there are at least 49 new pieces of EU legislation potentially affecting the financial services sector either in the pipeline or being discussed at the EU-level, and very few of these are aimed at promoting financial services trade.

The briefing notes that, in the 2009/10 tax year, the UK financial services sector as a whole made a total tax contribution of £53.4bn, and accounted for a £35.2bn trade surplus in 2010.

Open Europe also argued that, over the next decade, growth opportunities for financial services within the EU are likely to be more limited than elsewhere in the world. This means that the benefits to London of acting as the gateway to Europe are becoming less convincing and the need to keep the door open to emerging markets elsewhere across the globe far more important.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Tories push for new European Union deal http://www.europeansources.info/record/tories-push-for-new-european-union-deal/

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