As with everything Brexit, the battle for the City will be messy | Nils Pratley

Brussels has retained a nuclear option: the possible relocation of the 880bn-a-day euro clearing business

It was billed as the first big Brexit battle for the City of London. Would Brussels launch a raid on London's lucrative business of clearing a1tn (880bn) a day of euro-denominated trades, which is what former French president Franiois Hollande wanted when he said "those who seek the end of Europe" needed to be taught "a lesson"? Or would the European commission take the grown-up view that, actually, forcing all this financial activity to take place within the borders of the EU would do more harm than good, even for the EU itself?

The answer - as with most things Brexit-related - is messy. The keenly awaited report from the commission booted the important decisions into the long grass of technical assessments. Yet the commission has also retained the nuclear option of enforced relocation for clearing houses, bodies that stand between two parties to a financial trade, when they're dealing in euro-denominated derivatives.

Related: Brussels plan could force euro clearing out of UK after Brexit