London (AFP)

London is once again the leading financial center in Europe for stock trading, ahead of Amsterdam, which had passed ahead at the start of the year thanks to Brexit, according to figures from the Cboe Global Markets marketplace.

A total of 8.92 billion euros in shares were traded on average every day in June on stock exchanges based in London, Cboe said in figures sent to AFP on Monday.

Amsterdam, which had taken first place from the British capital since January, is just behind with 8.8 billion euros traded, far ahead of Paris (5.84 billion) and Frankfurt (4.93 billion).

From the first day of listing in January after the effective entry into force of Brexit, some 6 billion euros in euro-denominated transactions had been repatriated to European markets.

London is recovering its crown mainly through the exchange of shares of Swiss companies, which have been authorized again in the United Kingdom for a few months, according to the Bloomberg agency.

They had been suspended in all places in Europe for many months due to a dispute between Switzerland and the EU.

But Brexit allowed the United Kingdom to settle this dispute unilaterally, with the reintroduction of Swiss shares in London.

For the British capital this is good news as it faces stiffer competition from the EU since the effective exit from the single market on January 1.

If the United Kingdom has obtained a trade agreement with Brussels, it has not been for financial services, despite the announcement of minimum cooperation on regulation.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak admitted in a speech last week that he had failed to agree with the EU on a set of equivalences to keep similar rules in finance.

"Now we are moving forward, continuing to cooperate on issues of global finance, but each as a sovereign jurisdiction with its own priorities," he said.

The government has already promised to relax listing rules on the London Stock Exchange in order to attract more companies, particularly in new technologies, or to catch up with Spacs, financial instruments for IPOs, which are on the rise in the United States and Europe.

Monday morning, the British financial regulator FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has also announced launching a consultation on several proposals in this direction.

For Julia Hoggett, Managing Director of the London Stock Exchange, these reforms are necessary for "the United Kingdom to remain a prosperous place and one of the main financial centers in the world".

The place of London must "evolve so that companies can better access capital while maintaining high standards," she said.

© 2021 AFP