Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Although this is the finance committee we have not dealt in detail with financial services. A number of French Senators came over to visit members of the finance committee. They had been to Hong Kong, Singapore and London and they were coming to Dublin and Frankfurt to examine what was happening and what opportunities they could seek. There appears to be a movement away from passporting arrangements to more equivalent regimes, certainly within the UK. What have been the indications in regard to regulation equivalence of standards and is it likely that any deal will be struck allowing for equivalence of standards between what we are doing and what the UK will do? Many people do not appreciate just how large the UK's capital markets are as a percentage of the total EU. In excess of 70% of the entire EU's capital transactions go through London, not Frankfurt, Paris or here. How will all of that be handled? In terms of relocation, we do not appear to be as forward as perhaps some other countries are in angling for the businesses that might wish to remain in an EU territory.