Britain confident of Brexit financial services deal soon

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is confident that it will "imminently" reach a deal with the European Union on its post-Brexit financial services trade with the bloc, Britain's financial services minister John Glen said on Monday.

Britain is looking for an agreement based on an improved version of the EU's "equivalence" system of financial market access, whereby Brussels allows foreign firms to operate on its turf if their home rules are closely aligned with those in the bloc.

"I am extremely confident we will reach an imminent deal," Glen told a financial services conference in London. "There is common ground. That is why we are increasingly positive on the expectation of reaching a deal."

Glen said the government was prioritising the need to have a long-term and best solution for the "power house" financial services sector.

"There is no competitor worthy of replacing us," Glen said, adding there would be no regulatory "isolation" or race to the bottom in financial rules after Brexit.

He also said that the loss of jobs in the City as banks and insurers open new hubs in the bloc ahead of Brexit next March has been a fraction of what "scaremongers" had originally predicted.

(Reporting by Huw Jones and Andrew MacAskill, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)