Brexit could trigger next financial crisis, warns London Stock Exchange chief

Mr Rolet has repeatedly warned on the risks of Brexit this year: PA

Brexit could trigger the next financial crisis if France and Germany try to demolish London’s status as a centre of the global economy, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange has warned.

Xavier Rolet, who is one of the UK’s most senior financiers, warned that as Britain braces to leave the EU, European leaders risk causing a crisis “just to make a political point”.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said that the same European leaders who had demanded tighter global regulation in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis werer now threatening to “fragment” those standards to punish the UK for voting in favour of Brexit.

Mr Rolet has repeatedly warned on the risks of Brexit this year.

In May he warned that stripping London of the lucrative euro clearing facilities after Brexit could cost investors €100bn (£83bn) over five years.

(Clearing houses hold collateral centrally and ensure transactions go ahead in the event of a default.)

In January Mr Rolet said that Brexit could cost the City of London up to 230,000 jobs if the Government failed to provide a clear plan for post-Brexit operations.

Theresa May’s Government aims to secure a transition deal with the EU to begin in 2019, but some Tory MPs have suggested Britain should prepare for such efforts to fail.

Earlier this week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that a no-deal Brexit would wipe around £40bn off UK economic growth by 2019.

In his op-ed on Wednesday, Mr Rolet also called on the Bank of England and European regulatory bodies to speed up talks and deliver an “update” to reassure international financial firms.

He welcomed the Prime Minister’s call for a transition period but also said that details of such a period would have to be agreed before the end of this year. He said that if no agreements were reached before the end of 2017, British jobs would start moving abroad.

Later on Wednesday, Mr Rolet is due to address a group of MPs and business leaders on the subject of Brexit.

He will reportedly make a direct appeal to European leaders not to make “protectionist” moves that could damage London’s position as a financial hub.