City handed post-Brexit boost as Hunt strikes trade deal with Switzerland

 Jeremy Hunt has handed the City a post-Brexit boost by agreeing a trade deal with Switzerland.

Source - Daily Telegraph 20/12/23

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The Treasury on Wednesday announced a new financial services agreement that will reduce costs for UK businesses accessing the Swiss market and vice versa.

The UK-Swiss deal will be signed in Bern on Thursday by Mr Hunt and Karin Keller-Sutter, head of Switzerland’s federal department of finance.

It marks a further boost to the City as Mr Hunt slashes red tape in hopes of increasing the competitiveness of Britain’s financial services industry following Brexit.

The Bern Financial Services Agreement means each country will recognise the other’s domestic laws and regulations on financial services.

It is expected to make it easier for financial companies to offer cross-border services relating to insurance, banking, asset management and capital market infrastructure.

The bilateral agreement, which will simplify operations for companies and wealthy clients in both countries, comes more than three years after the then-chancellor Rishi Sunak launched negotiations in June 2020.

Mr Hunt on Thursday will claim that leaving the EU has allowed Britain to negotiate independent deals with major financial hubs, the Financial Times first reported.

The Treasury said: “The Bern Financial Services Agreement is only possible due to new freedoms granted to the UK following its exit from the EU.”

The UK risked losing the benefit of pre-Brexit trade agreements between the EU and Switzerland, which is not a member of the bloc.

Leaving the 27-member bloc meant that Britain faced being relegated to a third country and stripped of most access rights.

The new deal will permanently restore the UK’s access to Switzerland’s financial sector following Brexit, creating the possibility of a wider trade deal.

The Treasury said: “This relationship is underpinned by a commitment to international standards and a shared belief in the value of open and resilient financial markets.”

Switzerland is the UK’s third largest partner outside of the EU, after the US and China. Swiss banks manage approximately nearly £3 trillion in international assets.

According to the Treasury, UK trade in financial and insurance services with Switzerland reached £3.28bn in 2022.