Both Great Britain and the EU have agreed to begin discussions via an informal forum on financial services, but the talks are yet to begin. This had led to Britain's finance ministry calling for the EU to expedite financial services talks, after the London Stock Exchange urged the bloc to avoid protectionism. 

Britain formally left the EU in January 2020, with the transition period drawing to a close in December. This cut the City of London’s financial services centre off from many of the markets it had previously played a central role in. Pre-Brexit, many banks and other financial businesses used London to access Europe. Since Britain's departure from the EU, many of these businesses have established units in the EU to prevent disruption for their EU clients. This has resulted in London losing out on billions of euros in daily euro stock and derivatives trading, which are now instead going straight to the EU.

The forum will not decide on financial market access, but it is seen as a critical part of reestablishing relationships between Great Britain and the EU.