Big Court Win for the UK against the European Central Bank

I am indebted to Robert Peston for pointing out this court judgement in favour of Britain (supported by Sweden) against the European Central Bank (supported by France and Spain).

The ECB had made an outrageous attempt to restrict the ability of financial institutions physically located in countries which are not in the Euro to carry out certain clearing and settlement functions relating to securities denominated in Euros.

In other words they wanted to stop the City of London from being involved in some aspects of financial business involving Euros because Britain still uses the pound rather than the Euro.

The City is one of the world's three most successful global trading centres and deals with currencies and securities all over the world. This is as if the US had tried to take ban the City of London from continuing with existing business relating to clearing of dollar-denominated securities because the UK does not use the dollar.

The UK government went to court and challenged the ECB ruling. That challenge has been successful, the relevant section of the ECB rules have been quashed, and the ECB has been ordered to pay Britain's legal bills in relation to the case.

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