The European financial sector is well-prepared to deal with a hard Brexit should the U.K. leave the EU without a transitional agreement in place to maintain access to the single market, a key EU official said March 8.
"The feedback from the financial sector itself is that they are prepared, they are realistic not to take too much risk because their duty is to serve their clients," European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said at a news conference in Brussels.
He said the EC had talked to the financial sector about the potential outcome of the U.K.'s departure and had underlined the need for banks and financial institutions to be ready for all different scenarios.
"It would be completely irresponsible to create an atmosphere where we can say, 'don't worry, everything will go well and smoothly,' because we simply don't know," he said.
The U.K. voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June 2016 and negotiations with the bloc about the terms of its departure have been fraught with difficulties, raising concerns that the U.K. will leave without any kind of deal.
Financial firms based in the City of London are relocating parts of their operations to other EU capitals to be sure of retaining passporting rights that allow them to operate throughout the EU.
