The Treasury Select Committee has launched a new inquiry into the future of the UK’s financial services once the UK has left the EU.

The committee will examine what the government’s financial services priorities should be when it negotiates the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU and third countries.

It will also look at how the UK’s financial services sector can take advantage of the UK’s new trading environment with the rest of the world, and whether the UK should maintain the current regulatory barriers that apply to third countries.

Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury Committee, said that London is the world’s premier financial centre, “and many of us want to keep it that way”.

She stated that: “Brexit will have a significant and long-lasting impact on the financial services sector, including the insurance, retail banking and asset management sectors, in the UK, the EU, and potentially the rest of the world.”

Morgan explained that the UK may converge, seek equivalence, or diverge from the EU, with the committee set to examine the risks and rewards of each of these choices.

“We’ll also explore the opportunities outside Brexit, such as FinTech, on which we should be capitalising,” she added.

After taking evidence from industry, regulators, ministers and officials, the committee will make a series of recommendations to the government and regulators about what it should prioritise.

“We’ll also seek to conclude whether it would be in the long-term interests of the UK to align closely with EU financial rules, or to forgo financial services trade with the EU and pursue trade with other third countries,” concluded Morgan.

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