Juncker hands financial services job to Britain

The new European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker handed Britain supervision of EU financial services yesterday, offering an olive branch to a country that is weighing its future in the bloc.

Juncker, whose appointment to head the EU’s executive was strongly opposed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, said that Jonathan Hill will become the European Union’s first dedicated financial services commissioner, giving him huge influence over the City of London and rivals Paris and Frankfurt.

Cameron’s spokesman said the appointment of Hill, who was leader of Britain’s upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, will ensure that the voice of EU members from outside the eurozone will be fully represented in the bloc’s wider single market.