Brexit fear drives futures trades out of London

Transitions via FIA protocol have escalated since January as no-deal concerns mount

As fears of a hard Brexit have grown, UK financial firms have transferred thousands of client futures positions to EU27 affiliates, assisted by a shortcut launched by the Futures Industry Association in September.

The first transitions happened in November and around 14,000 contracts supporting listed derivatives business – so-called give-up-agreements – have now been switched to affiliates using the transfer protocol developed by FIA Tech, a subsidiary of the futures trade body.

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