Paris says banks in UK have two choices after Brexit: Paris or Frankfurt

[October 17, 2016]  LONDON (Reuters) - Paris or Frankfurt are the only two real choices in the European Union for relocating financial firms from London after Britain leaves the bloc, a top French official said on Monday.

Arnaud de Bresson, chief executive of Paris Europlace, which promotes the French capital as a financial center, said that "global financial institutions" looking to move operations to the euro zone after Brexit were telling him that it was a toss up between Germany and France.

Brexit was "bad news" for Europe in global financial market competitiveness, de Bresson told a Brexit conference in London.

Paris was now working hard to make itself more attractive by cutting taxes for foreigners working in finance.

"We are very engaged now to reduce the (fiscal) difficulties," de Bresson said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)

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