UK chancellor Rishi Sunak hints at 'Big Bang' for Brexit financial services        

People talking about a repeat of Margaret Thatcher's 1980s deregulatory agenda 'make a really, really good point'

Rishi Sunak: 'The City has always constantly innovated, adapted, and evolved to changing circumstances and thrived and prospered as a result.'

UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak hinted at a repeat of Margaret Thatcher’s 'Big Bang' period of financial services deregulation now the UK is no longer bound by EU rules.

There is “a whole range of things we can do slightly differently” after Brexit, said Mr Sunak in a podcast interview. People talking about a repeat of the former prime minister’s 1980s deregulatory agenda “make a really, really good point”, he said.

“If you look at the history of the City stretching even further back than that, it has always constantly innovated, adapted, and evolved to changing circumstances and thrived and prospered as a result,” said Mr Sunak. 

The City has a base to work from, “whether you want to call it Big Bang 2.0 or whatever”. 

The UK left the EU’s single market and customs union with a last-minute trade deal that offered little clarity for financial services firms. In particular, there was no decision reached on so-called equivalence, which would allow businesses to sell their services into the single market from London.

Even British prime minister Boris Johnson said the deal does not go as far as he would have liked on financial services. The two sides aim to agree a memorandum of understanding on the industry by March.

Brexit is already having an effect on financial services, pushing almost all of European share trading, representing about €4.6bn of trades a day, away from London. 

However, Mr Sunak said that the trade deal offers “many things” that are “good” for UK financial services, including provisions on the free flow of data, business travel, and legal and professional services. 

Bloomberg