EU withholding finance access is ‘really regrettable’, UK says

A senior U.K. Treasury official urged the European Union to match its attempts to preserve cross-border finance, calling it “really regrettable” that the bloc hasn’t budged with weeks until the post-Brexit transition period expires.

The U.K., which this week unilaterally opened EU access to parts of its market, needs to see the EU reciprocate before it takes further steps, according to Katharine Braddick, director general of financial services at the Treasury.

“We need some more clarity from the EU on their intentions with regards to their own decisions before we will be able to make further announcements,” Braddick told industry executives during a virtual City & Financial Global conference Thursday “We think it is really regrettable that the EU hasn’t decided to assess the U.K. for a number of areas for equivalence.”

Braddick said the lack of so-called equivalence for investment banking under the EU’s signature securities law, the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, creates uncertainty for the financial industry and regulators.

After the U.K. move this week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it was still in the process of assessing the U.K.’s rules and would grant equivalence when it’s in the bloc’s interests, according to a spokesperson.