French markets watchdog wants tougher rules for UK firms after Brexit

LONDON: The European Union system for granting financial market access to foreign firms must be toughened up given that a dominant financial centre will become a close neighbour after Brexit, the head of France's markets watchdog said on Thursday.

Robert Orphele, chairman of the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), said EU market access rules for non-EU or "third countries" should be revamped before the bloc's financial market is opened up to Britain, which is leaving the EU next March.

"When the main financial centre of the EU is about to leave the Union, it is clear that the European third country regimes as previously defined can no longer be appropriate and hence deserve to be revisited," Orphele told a meeting of OMFIF think tank.