UK-based banks, including the European headquarters of USA and other global firms, are pressing him to strike an interim agreement with the EU that would preserve their ability to provide services.
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Britain is open for business, Prime Minister Theresa May announced to United States business chiefs, telling them to “please feel free to invest in the UK”.
Britain retains its role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance as the EU’s biggest defence spender, its permanent veto-wielding seat on the UN Security Council and four submarines armed with nuclear ballistic missiles, Reuters said.
“We need to be smarter and even more coordinated than the criminal gangs in our efforts to stop them”, she said.
In an interview to be broadcast on Wednesday’s Morning Edition on National Public Radio in the US, Mrs May said: “One of the purposes of my meeting with US investors, and that included US banks, was to hear from them what their concerns are and what their key issues are as we go forward for our negotiations”. The response to those demands, she said, “must be more global, not less”.
U.S. President Barack Obama said this month that he wanted the Brexit process to be resolved in the least disruptive way possible, though both France and Germany face elections next year which could complicate the Brexit negotiations. However, in order to eradicate modern slavery, security relationships must be developed among countries, she pointed out. “I will be talking to them and hearing from them what their emphasis is in terms of the issues they want us to address”.
‘These figures give us an initial idea of the effects of losing full access to the single market in financial services, ‘ he said.
May faces pressure from some in her government for a “hard” Brexit – or pulling out of the single market and an end to full passporting rights and the free movement of European Union citizens – which makes EEA membership a non-starter.
Worries and uncertainty over the impact of Britain’s looming exit from the European Union drove sterling to another five-week trough below $1.30 on Wednesday.
This is the sort of Brexit deal May and ministers like foreign secretary Boris Johnson have said they would like to secure.
In a letter to Tyrie, Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA said: “A passport is a mechanism through which firms may exercise their right to provide services and their right to establishment”.
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That is 46 per cent more than the 5,476 British-based companies – many of which will be American and Japanese banks with bases in London – that have a passport to do business in the EU. If the passport is taken away, then London could cease to be the most important financial centre in Europe, costing the United Kingdom thousands of jobs and billions in revenues.
