Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, said:
'The UK is a global financial centre with high regulatory standards; today’s statement by the Chancellor sets out important steps to ensure that it will remain one.
'We believe effective and efficient financial regulation enables strong trading relationships and open financial markets, which bring real benefits to economies as well as investors and consumers.
'We will continue working with the Government and the Bank of England to deliver on the measures announced today: advancing work to support well-functioning capital markets, enable greater investment in long term assets, ensuring the sector contributes to the move towards a low-carbon economy and encourage responsible innovation in finance.
'We have published further information[1] for financial services firms on the equivalence decisions outlined by the Chancellor.'