KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR APPROACHING ?
David Davis has resigned as “Brexit Secretary” - clearly he has had problems subjugating his morals to the dictate of his boss !
Not the first time he has resigned on a matter of morality - He resigned his Hull constituency to fight it again on the issue of the subjugation of civil liberties !
Watch this space - hopefully he WILL get “her” job - in time to rescue the British People! 
GBP/USD blasted by BoJo bowing out, bears watching 1.3205 and 1.3050
MATT WELLER, CFA, CMT
JULY 9, 2018 11:52 AM
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” -Vladimir Lenin
With respect to the early 20th century Soviet leader, pound traders no doubt feel like they’ve seen a decade’s worth of Brexit news crammed into just the first 24 hours of the trading week already!
The UK currency gapped higher to start the week after PM Theresa May’s “free trade area for goods” position was supported by the cabinet, including from Michael Gove who called it “realistic compromise.” Shortly after that, the currency turned lower on news that David Davis, the UK’s Brexit secretary, was resigning from May’s cabinet.
As my colleague Fawad Razaqzada noted earlier today though, GBP/USD had recovered to hit a nearly 1-month high this morning as traders reevaluated Davis’ departure as a sign that a “softer” Brexit may be in the offing. Just when traders had settled on that narrative as a bullish catalyst for cable, the market was rocked by news that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would also be resigning.
In essence, the departure of two key cabinet members in a 24-hour period has prompted pound traders to “sell first and ask questions later.” Now, the dominant market narrative centers on the tremendous uncertainty now surrounding the country’s political leadership and a looming conflict between hard and soft Brexiteers.
Just in the last hour, PM May has noted that preparations for a “no deal” scenario should be stepped up, which is about the last thing that sterling bulls want to hear. Meanwhile, oddsmakers have slashed the odds of another UK election from 5/1 to 6/4, with the odds of Theresa May being forced out as Prime Minister now dropping to just 2/1.
As of writing (though we wouldn’t be surprised to see things dramatically in the coming hours!), GBP/USD has collapsed by over 100 pips from its European session highs to trade back in the middle of last week’s range. For now, the pair is showing a large “dark cloud cover” pattern on the daily chart, signaling a possible near-term top and a failed breakout above previous resistance at 1.3315.
If we close around these levels, the next support level to watch will be the minor area of previous-resistance-turned-support around 1.3205. If that level gives way, bears may look to target the 10-month low at 1.3050 next. Meanwhile, only a recovery back above this morning’s high near 1.3360 would erase the near-term bearish bias.
Source: TradingView and FOREX.com
I wouldn’t worry too much about short - term fluctuations which are at the moment within “Normal ranges” - If “Traders” want a GB capitulation to Federalism - that’s up to them ! - It’s not what WE voted for and if Johnson is resigning, that is a pretty good sign that a leadership battle might be coming up imho. 
i expect that GBP will be a fairly good short for a while, - but don’t HODL it ! 
Sometimes elections can offer a nice little Arbitrage oportunity !
"… we are truly headed for the status of colony – and many will struggle to see the economic or political advantages of that particular arrangement."
[The Brexit] "dream is dying."
Here’s a short summary of Johnson’s comments, excerpted by msn.com from an AFP article –
As a news outlet (some would say fake news outlet), msn.com is definitely written for people who have a short attention span.
Here’s the original article from AFP – Agence France-Presse (French press agency)
https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/may-stares-down-brexit-plan-backlash-ministers-quit-doc-17d6sr12
I think we’ll have to wait and see.
I rather liike these quotes from Boris
“…“That dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt.”…”
“…The government now has a song to sing. The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find they stick in the throat,…”
Or maybe this from Boris:
“I have decided after a huge amount of heartache, I did not want to do anything, the last thing I wanted was to go against the PM or the Government, but after a great deal of heartache I didn’t think there was anything else I could do.”
Reporter: If that is what you thought all along why have you kept your party waiting?.
Boris’s answer:
“The truth is that it has been agonizingly difficult.”
Feb 2016, to assembled journalists in London.
With “Friends” like Michael Gove, who needs enemies ?
5 minutes to read and understand 100 pages of Jargon ?
( turn your sound down half way - before opening link - it takes a few moments to load the video too )
And back to the original question :-
London is no longer the worlds leading financial centre.
The latest Z/Yen Global Financial Centres Index has New York top, London 2nd, closely followed by Hong Kong and with Shanghai catching up fast
London still leads in Europe for now
Hi Chuck,
London is still dominant in FX trading, but it will be interesting to see the results of the next market survey from the Bank of International Settlements due in 2019.
• From the time I started tracking the Z-Yen rankings in 2008, until September 2013, London was ranked No.1, with New York running a very close second. Typically, there was less than a 1% difference in the ratings between London and New York during that 5 year period.
At least once during that period (in March 2010), London and New York shared the No. 1 spot.
• From March 2014 until September 2015, New York took over the No. 1 position, by a small margin, with London hot on New York’s heels.
• Then, from September 2015 until September 2018, London regained the top spot.
• Now (September 2018) New York is back on top by the thinnest of margins – a rating of 788 for New York vs. 786 for London.
Note that these ratings and rankings, compiled and published every March and September, include a variety of factors – financial, economic, social, and life-style – in judging the desirability of major cities as places to live and do business.
The BIS Triennial Survey which @forex.com mentioned, on the other hand, considers only one metric – average daily foreign exchange turnover (forex volume).
For anyone interested in the current (September 2018) Z-Yen Global Financial Centres Index (note the British spelling 
), here’s a link – Z-Yen (24) - Global Financial Centers Index - 24.pdf (3.5 MB)
And for anyone who wants to dig into the latest (September 2016) BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey, here it is – BIS Triennial Survey 2016.pdf (558.5 KB)
An update on the thread question.
Back in Feb the EU published it’s proposed legal change post Brexit including the position on Financial Services.
“UK investment firms will no longer benefit from the MiFID authorization to provide MiFID investment services and activities in the Union (they will lose the so-called “EU passport”) and will be third-country firms”.
In the withdrawal agreement these issues to be sorted during transition period.
Today’s EU publication confirms that in a ‘no deal’ situation there will be a period of 12 months within which EU firms can access UK clearing and 2 years within which they may access UK depositaries.
The EU are legislating to protect EU firms in their words “these contingency measures shall be strictly limited to what is necessary to deal with major disruptions”
The reference to disruptions is to EU firms, the two legal notices only apply to EU as UK will be outside EU law.
The surprising thing is that there is no legislation to allow UK investment firms access to the EU market, and their description of the 2 pieces of law as “temporary” and “conditional” which in some ways adds to the uncertainty.
The older bulletin describes the ‘no deal’ scenario:
Due to the impending Brexit the FCA has officially clarified that for now the European Union law will continue to apply to companies regulated by the FCA. They will remain in effect until the end of the implementation period, which will last until 31st December, 2020.
More importantly, new regulation that comes into effect during this implementation period will also apply.
On the upside, that means that companies with licenses issued by the FCA will continue to benefit from passporting between the UK and EEA, and that consumer rights and protections derived from EU law will also remain in force.
I think the bigger question is how regulation will change once that implementation period ends and how that will affect the British economy.
Aye, talks will not start until March 1st and seems that Finance is high up on the list.
The position as it stands is that the UK is now outside the EU and on the 1st of Jan next it’s banks will not have passporting in the EU
EU legal speak:
The UK entities providing banking and payment services, as well as e-money issuing,
will no longer benefit from the authorisation to provide those services and activities
in the Union (they will lose the so-called “EU passport”) and will be treated as third country entities with regard to their possibility to establish branches or agents in the
Member States. This means that those entities will no longer be allowed to provide
services in the EU on the basis of their current authorisations.
(ec europa)
… which of course doesn’t preclude new future financial modalities. If the EU finds liquidity drying up then some accommodation will be pursued. IMO.
Yep, that document was drawn up in 2018 after much discussion with all member states, they covered almost everything that will need to be agreed - which is a lot.
Accommodation is what all good agreements are about and i suspect the present PM is an achiever.
It was interesting that he has told his cabinet to keep a lid on their media talk, negotiations are more successful away from publicity gaze as was proved in the Withdrawal Agreement which got kick started with his and the Irish PM hush hush meeting in the NE of England.
Edit:
There will be a lot of ‘smoke and mirrors’ from both sides, likely the PM will want to control this (his SPAD Dominic Cummings, often referred to as a ‘source’ is expert in this field).
The battle began today on day one with this ‘leak’ to the Telegraph:
“We are planning full checks on all EU imports - export declarations, security declarations, animal health checks and all supermarket goods to pass through Border Inspections Posts,” this morning’s Telegraph quoted a senior government source as saying.
A strange war of words already, the UK finance minister, referrring to the UK financial sector wrote today in City AM:
The sector helps drive our economy, employing more than one million people across the UK — two thirds of whom are outside of London — contributing £127bn to our economy every year, and bringing in over £75bn in taxes that help fund our vital public services.
He then continued:
We will no longer be rule-takers, but we remain committed to the highest international standards of financial regulation and to shaping global rule-making. We may choose to do things in the same way as the EU if it works for the UK. But there will be differences, not least because as a global financial centre the UK needs to keep pace with and drive international standards
Likely the EU side were briefed, maybe not, but by coincidence Michel Barnier in the EU Parliament today:
“I’d like to take this opportunity to make it clear to certain people in the United Kingdom authority that they should not kid themselves about this. There will not be general open-ended ongoing equivalence in financial services, nor other management or financial agreements with the United Kingdom,…we will keep control of these tools, and we will retain the free-hand to take our own decisions.”
And so it begins