Brexit 'opportunity' for eurozone financial sector says French minister

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Brexit can be an "opportunity" for the eurozone's financial system, France's new finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, has said.

Mr Le Maire, who was appointed by the new French President Emmanuel Macron last week, was speaking at a joint press conference in Berlin with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble.

European politicians have been hoping to force the relocation of the lucrative business of clearing euro-denominated derivatives out of the City of London and into the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc in 2019.

The European Central Bank sought in 2011 to require euro-denominated clearing to be performed in the single currency area, but was overruled by the European Court of Justice in 2015 on the grounds that this would conflict with the rules of the single market.

But the departure of the UK from the single market in two years opens up the opportunity for the European authorities to move again.

A re-location of clearing could benefit the Paris-based Euronext exchange.

The European Commission is due to rule next month on how euro-denominated securities outside the EU should be policed.

Euronext's management predicted last week that Brussels will ultimately force clearing out of London.

Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, on Monday claimed in an article for The Times that interfering with clearing would increase eurozone systemic financial risks and drive up costs for European firms.

The clearing house in London with the largest euro business is the LCH Group, which is majority-owned and operated by the LSE.

A report last year by the consultancy firm EY suggested that a departure of euro clearing could directly and indirectly cost 83,000 jobs in the City.

The former French president, Francois Hollande, had previouly threatened to force clearing out of the City due to Brexit.

The latest remarks by Mr Le Maire, 48, a former agriculture minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, suggests that this stance has not shifted with the change of administration in Paris.