Philip Hammond and David Davis pledge a 'smooth and orderly' Brexit transition

Both Philip Hammond and David Davis have said there will be a "smooth and orderly transition" post Brexit, which is due to take place by March 2019. The UK Chancellor and Brexit minister promised the same in a meeting with high-profile financial services chiefs on Monday.

The 90-minute meeting at the Warwick Business School in The Shard was attended by senior executives of 10 financial services companies. These included Baroness Vadera, chairman of Santander, John McFarlane, chairman of Barclays, and Inga Beale and CEO of Lloyd's of London, among others.

"As the UK exits the EU, we are determined that our country remains a great place to invest and to do business. We want the best deal for trade in UK goods and services, including our world-leading financial services industry."

"That is why these meetings, where we listen closely to the sector's views on the potential impact and opportunities offered by us leaving the EU, are so important. Our financial services sector makes a crucial contribution to our economy and we will work together to ensure it continues as the hub for both Europe and the rest of the world," Hammond and Davis were cited by the Telegraph as saying in a joint statement.

Both Hammond and Davis are also said to have discussed other issues such as options on how these financial companies could be given access to the European single market post Brexit. One such option was said to be based on regulatory equivalence between the UK and the rest of the bloc.

Under this option, as cited by the Financial Times, these companies would be given third-party passports to operate across the bloc based on the principle of equivalence. This would be instead of the currently issued passports by the UK as part of the single market.

However, not all of them who attended the meeting were happy with the outcome. One of them said that both Hammond and Davis said they were just one industry and could not be given any special treatment. "The message was: 'You're not the only sector. You're a very important sector but you're not the only sector and so what we have to do is to understand how we factor in your needs along with the needs of the other sectors in the country'," one of the attendees said.