EU REGULATOR LAUNCHES REAL-TIME REVIEW OF ASTRAZENECA'S COVID-19 VACCINE

 Reuters 1 October 2020

© Reuters/DADO RUVIC A test tube labelled with the Vaccine is seen in front of AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken

(Reuters) - The European health regulator said on Thursday it had started a rolling review of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and Oxford University, in a move aimed at speeding up any future approval process.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said its human medicines committee had started evaluating the first batch of data on the vaccine, and will continue till sufficient data is available and a formal application is submitted. (https://bit.ly/36qyDZM)

The news raises the chances of the vaccine being the first to be approved in the region, and comes just weeks after several global trials of the vaccine were halted due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.

U.S. trials are still under review, with regulators widening their probe, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

"This (EMA's review) does not mean that a conclusion can be reached yet on the vaccine's safety and effectiveness, as much of the evidence is still to be submitted to the committee," the watchdog said.

Early-stage data in July showed the vaccine elicited immune responses in clinical trials and produced no serious side effects, with the strongest response seen in people who received two doses. Data on late-stage trials are expected soon.

The EMA would make final recommendations, once the review is completed, to the European Commission, which has the ultimate say over approvals. The commission typically follows EMA endorsements.

The EMA began a similar real-time review of Gilead's Veklury as a treatment for COVID-19 earlier this year, and the antiviral treatment was given conditional approval for use just months later in July.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham and Shinjini Ganguli)

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RED TAPE FOR FIRMS IS PRICE OF LEAVING 'ANTI-SCIENCE' EU, GOVE SAYS

 Reuters 1 October 2020  

© Reuters/Hannah Mckay Britain's Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove arrives at the weekly cabinet meeting

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should celebrate its looming break from the "anti-science and anti-innovation" approach of the European Union even if it costs its industry more in red tape, the government's Brexit supremo Michael Gove said on Thursday.

Gove was asked in the House of Commons by an opposition lawmaker why companies in the chemicals industry should have to stump up an extra 1 billion pounds in the midst of an economic crisis to duplicate regulation that it already has with the EU.

Gove, the minister handling Brexit divorce issues for Britain and one of the leading advocates for the break with Brussels, said extra red tape was the price of securing autonomy and independence to become more competitive in the future.

"It's an inevitable consequence of leaving the European Union Single Market and Customs Union and freeing ourselves from the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union that we do have to have our own regulatory systems in place," he said.

"One of the great prizes of leaving the European Union is that when it comes to life sciences and other areas we will be free from the often anti-science and anti-innovation approach that the EU has had hitherto."

Britain's chemicals industry, which includes companies such as Ineos, Johnson Matthey, Croda and Synthomer, is bound to the EU by an especially dense web of laws and safety standards, and an EU products registry called Reach.

The lawmaker asking the question, Labour's Hilary Benn, said his parliamentary select committee had been told by representatives of the industry that the cost of registering all chemicals under a new UK Reach system would be around 1 billion pounds.

(Reporting by William James and Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

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SEND THEM TO MOLDOVA? BUILD A SEA WALL? UK's ASYLUM 'BRAINSTORM' UNDER FIRE

 Reuters 1 October 2020 - by Estelle Shirbon

© Reuters/PETER NICHOLLS FILE PHOTO: Migrants react as they are brought to Dover harbour by Border Patrol, in Dover

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government came under fire on Thursday after newspapers revealed it had studied housing asylum seekers on disused oil rigs, banishing them to camps in Moldova or Papua New Guinea, or building floating walls in the sea to keep them out.

© Reuters/MATTHEW CHILDS FILE PHOTO: Border Patrol agents bring migrants into Dover harbour on a boat, in Dover

The main opposition Labour Party said the plans, revealed in leaked papers published by several newspapers, showed the government was "lurching from one inhumane and impractical idea to another" and had "lost control and all sense of compassion".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has said it is studying how to deal with small boats carrying migrants across the Channel from France, including looking at policies used in other countries.

It did not comment on any of the specific proposals reported in the newspapers, but Johnson's spokesman said he did not recognise some of the ideas, without elaborating.

The proposals, which newspapers said had been studied by Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry, include building a camp for asylum seekers at Ascension Island, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.

The Financial Times said officials had sounded out the maritime industry over building temporary "marine fencing" to block migrant boats in the Channel. The Guardian newspaper reported that Johnson's office was driving the discussion, and had asked officials to consider sending asylum seekers to Moldova, Morocco or Papua New Guinea.

The top civil servant at the Home Office, Matthew Rycroft, who faced questions from a parliamentary committee, said discussions had taken place "in the realm of the brainstorming stage of a future policy" but did not confirm specific plans.

Immigration has been a hot issue for years in Britain, and one of the major drivers of the successful 2016 referendum campaign to leave the EU. But sending asylum seekers to a remote location would be a big departure for a European country.

CLOUD CUCKOO-LAND

The country best known for housing asylum seekers off shore is Australia, which has sent people intercepted at sea to camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing since 2012, a practice condemned by rights groups and the United Nations.

Labour described such proposals for Britain as both absurd and cruel. Meg Hillier, a Labour lawmaker, noted that Ascension Island has no functioning air strip, and said the idea of sending migrants there was "in the realms of cloud cuckoo-land".

Human rights groups accuse the UK government of exaggerating the problem of migration across the Channel, to drum up support. They say the numbers reaching Britain by sea, about 5,000 this year, are tiny compared with migrant flows in many other places.

The Times said other ideas being considered included putting asylum seekers on disused ferries or oil rigs moored off the coast, or building a processing centre on a Scottish island - a suggestion rejected by Scotland's devolved government.

"They can rest assured that any proposal to treat human beings like cattle in a holding pen will be met with the strongest possible opposition from me," Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Twitter.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Peter Graff)

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THE EU LEGAL ACTION IS NOT THE BLOCK TO A TRADE DEAL YOU MAY THINK

 The Independent 1 October 2020 -  by Andrew Grice

On the face of it, the EU’s decision to launch legal action against the UK for threatening to tear up last year’s withdrawal agreement would seem to make a trade deal between them far less likely.

But appearances can be deceptive. The European Commission’s move was inevitable after Downing Street took the incendiary step of including a power to override the Northern Ireland protocol in the Internal Market Bill now going through parliament, and ministers admitted it would breach international law.

Ursula von der Leyen, the commission’s president, said the bill was a “breach of the obligation of good faith,” adding pointedly that the EU “stand by our commitments”. The infringement proceedings were inevitable because Brussels had pledged to act if the UK did not drop the bill’s controversial provisions by the end of the month.

Crucially, suggestions that the EU might walk away from the trade negotiations failed to materialise. They are at a crucial stage, with the ninth round taking place in Brussels this week. 

EU officials rightly saw the UK’s gambit as a trap: the EU would either realise the UK did not fear no deal and make concessions, or angrily draw stumps on the talks, allowing Boris Johnson to blame the collapse on Brussels. So the EU wisely decided to do neither, and to keep calm and carry on negotiating. As one insider told me: “We will be the last to leave the table.”

In London, officials played down the legal action, which will take months if not years to complete. Last year, there were 800 such outstanding cases among EU mender states, with an average of 29 against each nation.

Although the UK refused to drop them from the measure, the bill, having completed its Commons passage this week, is unlikely to reach its crucial stages in the Lords until after the EU leaders’ summit on 15 and 16 October. By then, UK ministers hope the provisions will have been overtaken by events, and progress towards a trade agreement. If so, Johnson could drop the offending part of the bill, saying it was only ever meant to be a reserve power in the event of no deal being reached by the end of transitional period on 31 December.

Differences remain over EU access to British fishing waters and whether the UK will agree limits on state aid to its firms that are acceptable to Brussels.  But the prospects of an agreement are rising. UK ministers are now viewing Brexit and coronavirus together, rather than separately. This has led to a recognition that it would be difficult for British business to face the double disruption caused by the pandemic and no deal.

Ministers also know that a no deal scenario would play into the hands of Nicola Sturgeon, fuelling her campaign for independence ahead of next May’s elections to the Scottish parliament, when she hopes to win a mandate for a second referendum.

Although his allies won’t admit it, Johnson also needs the political success of an EU deal to offset his troubles on coronavirus, amid growing criticism of the government’s mixed messages and complex restrictions that even the prime minister himself failed to understand. 

As one Whitehall insider put it: “If the story  on Covid-19 is a government losing control, can the PM risk looking like he has lost control of the Brexit process at the same time?” 

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GOOGLE MAPS TO ROLL OUT FEATURE TO SHOW COVID-19 INFECTION RATES

 Cyprus Mail 30 September 2020 - by Bang Showbiz

Google Maps is working on a new layer to the app which will show people the COVID-19 infection rates in local areas to help plan their journey in advance.

Google Maps is set to roll out a feature which tells you the COVID-19 infection rates in local areas.

The new update will make users aware of how the virus is progressing in the different locations so that they can plan ahead before travelling.

There will be the option to add a layer called “COVID-19 info”, which shows the amount of new cases per 100,000 people.

What’s more, it will detail the areas where infections are rising or declining via a colour-coded system, with grey being the lowest, with less than one single case, and dark red signalling 40 or more cases.

Google has used “multiple authoritative sources”, including the New York Times, to source the relevant data, which is available for the 220 countries supported on the app.

It comes after Google Maps added alerts for safe travelling on public transport.

Google announced earlier this year that they will publicly track people’s movements during the coronavirus pandemic.

The tech giant published details of the types of places people are visiting in each county across the UK, and similar data for 130 other countries.

The company announced: “As global communities respond to COVID-19, we’ve heard from public health officials that the same type of aggregated, anonymized insights we use in products such as Google Maps could be helpful as they make critical decisions to combat COVID-19.

“These Community Mobility Reports aim to provide insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19.

“The reports chart movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.”

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UK EXPATS - RESIDENCY. PLEASE ENSURE YOU START THE PROCESS ASAP. THE CLOCK IS TICKING DOWN TO 31/12/20

 

 

UK Government advice regarding residency in Cyprus as a result of Brexit:

Residency

If you are resident in Cyprus before the transition period ends on 31 December 2020, you will be able to continue to live, work and access services as you do now.

You must register as a Cypriot resident if you plan to stay in Cyprus for more than 3 months. You will get a registration certificate from the Ministry of the Interior, Civil Registry and Migration Department. 

After living in Cyprus for more than 5 years, you can apply for permanent residence (MEU3).

Read the Cypriot government guidance residency in Cyprus.

If there are changes to residency registration processes, we will update this guidance as soon as information is available.

Read our guidance on moving or retiring abroad.

To start the formalisation process, you need to go down to Paphos Immigration office with your passport and make an appointment.   They will tell you the documentation you need to take with you to that appointment.    If you have lived here for more than 5 years and have not got an MEU1, then you can ask them to deal with the combined MEU1 and MEU3 in one visit.   Expect to have to wait 3 to 4 months for your appointment, unless you are lucky and a cancellation slot has become available.  Immigration have said in the past that as long as you have started the process before 31 December 2020, your application will be processed as if you were still an EU citizen.

Failure to formalise your residency will leave you open to a large fine if caught, and will also mean that you will only be able to stay on the island for up to 90 days and must then leave and not return for another 90 days.   Lack of MEU1/MEU3 documentation also means that many expats have been stranded abroad unable to repatriate to Cyprus until normal flights resumed.  

Post 31 December 2020, UK expats will be third country nationals - the residency procedure is not as straightforward as it is for an EU citizen.

If you are elderly and/or infirm, there is help available from CRPG - please see below.

UK National Support Fund

On 6 March 2020 the FCO announced funding for organisations to provide practical support to UK nationals who may find it harder to complete their residency applications. 

These organisations will help individuals who may find it harder to complete the necessary paperwork to secure their residency rights, including pensioners, disabled people, those living in remote areas or who have mobility difficulties, and those who require help with language translation or interpretation.

In Cyprus, two organisations are providing this practical support: SSAFA (specifically for armed forces veterans) and Cyprus Residency Planning Group (CRPG). If you or someone you know may find it harder to complete the paperwork, you can contact them using the details below to discuss how they may be able to help you.

SSAFA: 800 77058 (freephone)

Mon - Fri 09.00-17.30

ukvie.support@ssafa.org.uk

CRPG: 800 09009 (freephone)

Mon – Fri 09.00-13.00

contactus@cyprus-crpg.org

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AUSTRALIAN-STYLE ASYLUM PLAN DRIVEN BY NO 10

 The Guardian 1 October 2020 - by David Pegg and Paul Lewis

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty Images

When news of government plans to send migrants to Ascension Island broke in the Financial Times on Tuesday night, sources close to the home secretary, Priti Patel, were quick to distance her from the idea of building asylum seeker detention facilities on remote volcanic outcrops in the Atlantic Ocean. “The home secretary would not want something like this,” one ally insisted.

Government documents seen by the Guardian appear to lend credence to the idea that the home secretary is not behind the plan. It was Downing Street. Exactly who in No 10 is the driving force behind the idea of creating offshore detention facilities is not known. One Whitehall source said only it was “officials in the office of the prime minister”.

At the request of Downing Street, the documents seen by the Guardian summarise advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) about “potential offshoring of asylum processing centres for those using clandestine entry routes to the UK”.

The documents make clear that the idea that three specific countries – Moldova, Morocco and Papua New Guinea – might make suitable destinations for asylum processing centres came from Downing Street. One document suggests Boris Johnson is personally across the plan, stating: “In addition to the work on OT [British overseas territory] options, the PM has asked for FCDO advice on potential third-country locations. We are asked to suggest options for a UK scheme similar to the Australian agreement with Papua New Guinea.”

© Provided by The Guardian Boris Johnson has asked for advice on third-country locations, one document states. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

People in Conservative policy circles have for years talked of imitating aspects of the Australian immigration system, including the well-rehearsed “Australian-style points system” that involves replacing the UK’s existing immigration rules with a system ranking immigrants in order of preference based on their education or skills.

Offshore asylum processing centres, however, would be far more controversial. They originated in Australia in 2013 as part of an effort to reduce arrivals by boat. Those who reached Australia would be resettled in detention facilities on Papua New Guinea or the nearby island nation of Nauru.

The effectiveness of the policy is questionable. The Australian government claims that the policy has reduced the number of illegal maritime arrivals to zero. According to the Foreign Office advice seen by the Guardian, however, Canberra has tweaked the definition of “maritime arrival” so as to be able to make it.

The detention facilities are also the subject of serious criticism by international observers and human rights groups. Appalling accounts of abuse and suffering have previously emerged from the camps, despite attempts to restrict independent reporting.

Four years ago a huge cache of documents leaked to Guardian Australia documented 2,000 incidents including cases of violence, child abuse and self-harm suffered by those confined to the Nauru facility. More than half of the incident reports involved children.

Children as young as eight or 10 detained at the facility had been witnessed experiencing suicidal thoughts, according to a professor of psychiatry working with families at the Nauru facility in 2018.

The idea of replicating Australia’s notoriously hardline asylum centres has not been seriously discussed in the UK, though an increase in attempted Channel crossings over the summer, which has been covered extensively in the media, may partly explain the appetite for such a radical plan.

Asked about the Ascension Island proposal on Wednesday, the Conservative MP Laura Trott said she was unaware of the details, but added: “We have increasing numbers of boats coming across the Channel. It’s an incredibly dangerous crossing. We need to stop people doing it.”

© 2020 Getty Images LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 25: Home Secretary Priti Patel observes a minute's silence inside the atrium at Scotland Yard on September 25, 2020 in London, England. A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a police officer at the Croydon Custody Centre in south London. He was shot by a 23-year-old man who was also treated for a gunshot wound. The officer died later in hospital. The death will be investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. (Photo by Victoria Jones - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

According to one of the documents, the immigration minister, Chris Philp, spoke with Australian Border Force commissioner, Michael Outram, to “learn more about Australia’s approach” in June, while UK border force officials met their Australian counterparts in August.

While there may be elements within the Home Office who favour the idea of offshoring asylum processing centres, the documents suggest Foreign Office officials are opposed to the ideas so far floated by Downing Street.

FCDO officials found fault with all three possible countries as potential partners in such an endeavour. Morocco, they said, had already rejected a similar proposal from the European Union suggested in 2018, along with five other north African countries.

It would be unlikely to entertain a similar suggestion from the UK because of its preference for a “balanced approach to migration in multilateral fora”, as well as ambitions for a leadership role in north Africa more broadly, they added.

© Provided by The Guardian Officials advised Papua New Guinea had been ‘scarred by the experience of holding asylum seekers on Manus Island’. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Papua New Guinea had been “scarred by the experience of holding asylum seekers on Manus Island”, the officials advised. Furthermore such a partnership would entail significant practical challenges, not least of which would be the two countries being 8,500 miles apart and with no direct flights.

Moldova would not be appropriate due to a protracted conflict within its borders, including the illegal presence of foreign troops, as well as “endemic” corruption within the state apparatus.

An annexe incorporates what appears to be advice from the Home Office on changes that would need to be made to UK legislation to bring an offshore asylum processing policy into effect.

“Primary legislation is required currently as we are bound by European directives that prohibit offshoring, so the earliest a legislative change could take place would be January 2021,” it states.

© PA Wire/PA Images A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into Dover, Kent, by Border Force following a small boat incident in the Channel. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)

That would involve changing the law so that asylum seekers could be removed from the UK while their applications were processed, the creation of government powers to enable those seeking asylum to be sent overseas and a host of other provisions, including ensuring applicants could appeal within the UK legal system.

The advice speculates that the proposals to put detention facilities on St Helena could be so unpopular with residents and elected representatives on the island that the UK government might need to impose it, warning of “major implications” for the relationship with overseas territories more broadly.

Asked for comment, Downing Street referred the Guardian to comments earlier in the day from the prime minister’s spokesman when he was asked about the FT story.

“Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes in the future,” he said. “As ministers have said we are developing plans to reform policies and laws around illegal migration and asylum, to ensure we are able to provide protection to those who need it while preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it, and the rise in gang-facilitated Channel crossings has put this issue into sharp focus.

“As part of that work we have been looking at what a whole host of other countries do to inform a plan for the UK.”

The Foreign Office referred the Guardian to the Home Office. The Home Office said it had nothing to add to the comments from the prime minister’s spokesman.

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EU TAKES ACTION OVER UKs BLOW TO BREXIT BILL

 Reuters 1 October 2020 -By Gabriela Baczynska and William James 

© Reuters/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE 

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union launched a legal case against the United Kingdom on Thursday for undercutting their earlier divorce deal and a senior UK minister said differences remained in talks on a post-Brexit trade agreement.

© Reuters/Hannah Mckay Britain's Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove arrives at the weekly cabinet meeting

Controversy over the Internal Market Bill has thrown the tortuous Brexit process into a new crisis while disagreements over corporate subsidies, fisheries and ways to solve disputes overshadow parallel trade negotiations.

© Reuters/PETER NICHOLLS EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier wearing a protective mask leaves his hotel in London

"We had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft Internal Market Bill by the end of September," the head of the EU's executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said. "The deadline lapsed yesterday."

With London not budging, she said the Commission started a so-called infringement, an EU legal procedure against countries that violate the bloc's laws.

"At the same time, the Commission will continue to work hard towards a full and timely implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. We stand by our commitments," von der Leyen said.

London now has one month to reply to the Commission's formal letter of complaint and even more time to change tack before the Brussels-based executive can sue at the bloc's top court. The case could lead to hefty fines, but that takes years.

© Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett FILE PHOTO: The Canary Wharf financial district is seen in east London

But sterling slipped 0.6% against the euro and the dollar after the case was announced. "A no-deal is looking more likely," said Neil Jones, head of FX sales at Mizuho, who predicted further falls.

Britain's lower house of parliament approved the Internal Market Bill on Tuesday and it is now with the House of Lords.

The United Kingdom says ensuring that its nations can trade freely with each other after Brexit would require breaking the divorce deal provisions on the sensitive Irish border.

© Reuters/PETER NICHOLLS Weekly cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London

A UK government spokesman said in reacting to the news from Brussels that Britain has "clearly set out reasons" to change its Brexit treaty provisions.

The EU is adamant, however, that it would not implement any new UK deal as long as London undermines the divorce treaty.

With talks on the new trade agreement nearing crunchtime, the EU's 27 national leaders gathering in Brussels on Thursday and Friday would also get an update on the latest.

"DIFFERENCES REMAIN" ON STATE AID

Senior UK minister Michael Gove said "differences still remain" between Britain and EU in trade discussions, but that London would work hard for a deal.

EU officials and diplomatic sources told Reuters negotiators had failed to close the gap on the key issue of state aid.

The EU wants London to agree to broad state aid rules compatible with its own. The bloc wants an independent British regulator to decide on state aid there, as well as a new EU-UK dispute settling mechanism that would create a new Joint Committee and an Arbitration Panel to adjudicate.

Should one side fail to honour decisions made through that process, the Arbitration Panel could impose fines and the other side could retaliate by hitting bilateral trade elsewhere.

An EU official involved in the talks told Reuters: "It remains to be seen if the UK can sign up to that ... We haven't got there yet. Not sure we'll ever get there."

Britain wants control of its subsidy regime and says state aid clauses are not usually put in free trade agreements.

With time available until the end-year deadline running out, pressure is growing to put a deal in place to avoid putting an estimated trillion euros of annual trade at risk.

This week's ninth negotiating round - due to finish early on Friday - is the last scheduled so far and EU leaders will again assess progress on Oct.15-16.

They could switch to contingency planning for the most damaging economic split without new arrangements or approve a final, make-or-break negotiation known as the "tunnel".

The EU says a deal must be at hand by early November to give the European Parliament and some national parliaments enough time to ratify it before Britain's post-Brexit transition expires at the end of the year.

(Additional reporting by Marine Strauss and John Chalmers in Brussels, David Milliken, Elizabeth Piper and Guy Faulconbridge in London, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Philippa Fletcher)

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UNSEASONAL HIGH TEMPERATURES SET TO CONTINUE

 Cyprus Mail 1 October 2020 - by Evie Andreou

The hot weather is set to continue into October with temperatures, after a slight drop, expected to rise again over the weekend and into next week reaching higher than seasonal levels.

According to the met office, temperatures on Thursday are expected to rise to 32 degrees Celsius inland, on the south and east coasts, around 28C on the rest of the coast and around 23C degrees in the higher mountain areas.

A slight temperature drop is expected up to Saturday only to start rising on Sunday the met office said.

According to Kitas weather from Saturday and up to mid next week a gradual rise is expected with temperatures reaching 37C to 38C inland and around 31C to 34C in the coastal areas, depending on the area.

These temperatures are extremely high for early October since it seems they will be between four and seven degrees higher than seasonal levels, Kitas weather said.

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UK LOSES THOUSANDS OF JOBS IN FINANCE ON BREXIT - EY STUDY

 Reuters News Service 1 October 2020

Thousand of financial jobs lost due to Brexit

More than 7,500 finance jobs and a trillion pounds in assets have already left Britain for the European Union as banks prepare for full-blown hard Brexit in January, EY consultants said on Thursday.

Banks, insurers and asset managers have opened new or expanded existing hubs in the EU to continue serving their clients given that future access will be more limited once transition arrangements expire on Dec. 31.

The number of jobs and amount of assets is still a fraction of total jobs and assets held by Britain’s financial sector.

But there could still be a flurry of further staff and operational announcements in the weeks before the year end, said Omar Ali, UK financial services managing partner at EY.

“Firms must now ensure that as a minimum they will be operational and can serve clients on the 1st of January 2021,” Ali said.

EY said its Brexit Tracker showed that companies have also been hiring for more than 2,800 new roles in Europe since Britain voted for Brexit, meaning to leave the EU in 2016

Assets worth over 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.55 trillion) belonging to EU customers have also been moved from London to the bloc, where Dublin remains the most popular destination for new hubs, followed by Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Paris, EY said.

The EU has said it will only offer selective access for the City of London’s range of financial services under its “equivalence” system, under which access is only allowed if Britain’s finance regulations are equivalent to the EU’s.

“The time has now passed for firms to rely on short term equivalence assessments that would align to EU rules, and the sector’s attention is increasingly focused on the longer-term outlook,” Ali said.

The Tracker monitors statements from 222 of the biggest financial firms that have significant operations in Britain, with latest data up to Sept. 30.

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