EU to extend equivalence for euro clearing beyond March 2020 - Dombrovskis

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is planning to extend access to London-based clearing houses for EU clients beyond next March to give the financial industry more time to prepare for Brexit, the bloc's finance commissioner said on Friday.

A temporary EU permission, known as equivalence, that treats Britain-based clearing houses, like London Stock Exchange's derivatives central counterpart, as EU firms even after Brexit is due to expire on March 30, raising the prospect of EU customers having to shift positions from London at considerable cost.

"I intend to propose to renew this time-limited equivalence decision beyond that date," Valdis Dombrovskis said, adding that the measure was needed as "the risk to financial stability has not yet been fully removed, because industry has not so far fully prepared for a no-deal Brexit."

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, editing by Marine Strauss)