UK SERVICES INDUSTRY SEES LITTLE JOY IN POST-BREXIT WORLD

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in last week’s general election provided little comfort to Britain’s once world-beating financial services industry, which has been battered by Brexit for more than three years.

While Johnson’s triumph buoyed optimism that he would end the country’s long-running political stalemate, it virtually guarantees the U.K. will leave the European Union on Jan. 31 and starts the clock on efforts to negotiate a trade deal with the bloc by the end of 2020.

As prime minister prepares to outline his government’s priorities Thursday in a speech to lawmakers, the financial industry is seeking assurances that service businesses like theirs won’t lose the unfettered access