Irish assets worth €100 billion leave London due to Brexit

Securities settlement for Irish assets worth more than €100 billion ($119bn) has left London for the European Union in the latest adjustment in markets to Brexit, writes Huw Jones.

Pan-European exchange Euronext, which runs the Irish stock exchange, said on Thursday it had completed the migration of securities settlement for 50 Irish companies from Crest in London to Euroclear Bank in Brussels from 15 March.

Settlement of EU securities must take place in a central securities depository (CSD) inside the bloc.

While the transfer does not have immediate implications for jobs and tax revenues in Britain, it is a further sign of how its financial services industry is being cut off from the EU.

The EU had given Crest temporary permission to continue settling Irish securities in London until the migration was completed. Crest is part of the Euroclear group.

The migration follows shifts in euro stock and derivatives trading from London to the bloc, with Brussels now targetting the clearing of derivatives.

“The wholesale migration of settlement of securities from one CSD to another is unprecedented,” said Daryl Byrne, CEO of Euronext Dublin.

“We now have long-term certainty about the trading and post-trade infrastructure for the Irish market in a post-Brexit world, which ensures that Ireland remains an attractive jurisdiction for listed companies and market participants in the years ahead,” Byrne said.

($1 = €0.8373)

Share this article: