Michel Sapin, French finance minister, says after UK’s vote to leave EU banks are being informed about Paris as a financial centre

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

France is helping banks and financial institutions consider moving from London to Paris after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the French finance minister has said.

The French authorities are eager to attract financial firms from London after the Brexit vote and have offered to handle their files in English if they decide to move to the French capital.

Asked whether France had more concrete plans to attract banks from London, Michel Sapin said on Monday: “Large financial institutions make their decisions autonomously. But it’s not prohibited to help them reflect and give them information on the quality of Paris [as a financial centre].”

“We do it without any particular animosity against London,” he told reporters on his arrival at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg.

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In a recent interview, Sapin said London could not remain as the main euro clearing centre once Brexit was completed. “After Brexit, it will not be as before Brexit. They wanted a change; there will be a change,” Sapin added on Monday.

Last week, the French president, François Hollande, said the EU should be tough on Britain after the country had apparently chosen a hard Brexit, in which Britain leaves the EU’s single market in order to impose controls on immigration, disrupting access to its main trading partner.

The pound fell heavily in Asia after Hollande’s remarks, but Sapin said it was unclear whether the drop was caused by Hollande’s words.