Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, the UK's premier business organisation, said ruling out membership of the single market has “reduced options” for maintaining a barrier-free trading relationship between the UK and the EU - although she welcomed the clarity given by May.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, added that "much work is needed to ensure that the terms of the future relationship with the EU safeguard the interests of savers and investors who make use of Europe's pre-eminent asset management centre in the UK."

Financial compliance is another key area of concern. Alastair Brown, chief executive of Lombard Risk  said negotiating separate trade agreements is going to be "time consuming and complex".

“The key issues especially with EU are not just about securing tariff-free access,” he explained. “For our financial clients, it is also about the regulatory and compliance requirements that UK firms will have to adhere to in each of the markets that we trade with in future" Getting that right, Brown added, will be a “minefield” for companies and requires significant work to ensure that all the legal requirements and standards are adhered to and compliance is accurately tracked and reported.

Mihir Kapadia, chief executive and founder Sun Global Investments, said businesses can continue to operate in full confidence, especially on the financial services front.  “The only worst case scenario we have to account for is of a sour Brexit – something politics and politicians handle. It is up to them to get us the best deal possible, and we are confident things would materialise.”

Kapadia added that Germany, Netherlands and France, the biggest members of the European Union, are experiencing a rise in protectionist and inward looking political outfits. "This threatens the very existence of the union, destabilise the Euro Zone policies and devalue the Euro. If the markets aren’t capable enough to adapt for the smaller Brexit reality, we are fundamentally unprepared to handle much bigger threats which may be oncoming in the horizon.”