Brexit news: EU banks fear Brussels will block London finance access | City & Business | Finance

She explained: “We want to be able to preserve choice, so wherever the Commission land on this we want to ensure that we’re still able to access CCPs, and I’m sure the offering will continue to improve and become broader, but equally we want to be able to access London for clearing purposes.”

The EU is particularly concerned about what Ms McGuinness has described as “excessive dependence” on London with a long term aim of building clearing capacity in financial centres such as Paris and Frankfurt.

Ms Yavari said: “We do understand there is some systemic risk with the amount of clearing that goes on currently with UK CCPs, so to the extent that the EU would like to see some reduction in that, we can understand that, but we think this is something that needs to take place organically and not the result of some sort of regulation that disallows access to UK CCPs.”

The hard deadline of 2025 has also sparked confusion in the UK, with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey saying there was no need for a time limit and warning Brussels against “seeking to fragment the international system”.

Despite the EU’s efforts banks have so far proved reluctant to change their clearing habits leading to increased frustration from Ms McGuinness who has warned: “It will not happen organically, which is why we will need to intervene.”