Post-Brexit rows send jitters through UK financial sector

Post-Brexit rows send jitters through UK financial sector

Good morning and welcome to Europe Express.

The Franco-British fishing row may be somewhat calming down, with the UK’s Brexit minister David Frost in Paris today to speak to officials there before heading up to Brussels for a new round of talks on the Northern Ireland protocol. We’ll dig into the meeting and what’s expected.

But first, we’ll bring you the view of the City of London’s senior official in charge of financial services and her concerns that the eroding relations may have a negative impact on the European Commission’s pending decisions to grant British financial institutions so-called “equivalence” enabling them to operate on the continent.

And with the French elections fast approaching, we’ll explore why the government went on a diplomatic offensive against a social media campaign targeting hate speech which depicted women wearing a headscarf.

Financial anxiety

Among the many industries anxiously watching the rapid deterioration in the EU-UK relationship is financial services, writes Sam Fleming in Brussels.

Finance reaped a famously meagre harvest from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement forged late last year, winning a fleeting chapter in the trade deal but nothing that remotely compares with the guaranteed single market access that UK financial services companies used to enjoy.

The irony of the