How to Profit from the UK's Decision to Sue the European Central Bank

The United Kingdom plans to sue the European Central Bank (ECB) over a new regulation that the UK sees as a power grab by France and Germany. The European Central Bank's proposal calls for clearing houses that handle more than 5% of the market in a euro-denominated financial product to be located within the Eurozone. The new rule would harm the City of London's status as a financial center because some of its businesses would be forced to move operations to Europe, with France or Germany being most likely to pick up the extra business. This isn't the first time that the United Kingdom has had to counter attempts by countries that adopted the euro to regulate business away from the City of London financial center to a Eurozone country. The French recently tried to add to a European Union (

) directive a requirement that clearing houses must have access to central bank liquidity. If included in the EU directive, the requirement would have had much the same effect as the new proposal from the European Central Bank. This latest move by the European Central Bank to try to put more power into the hands of unelected European officials and the Eurozone's two biggest countries is just another sign of how the European Union in its current form is fundamentally flawed. Germany and France are quick to criticize other European Union members who do not comply with EU laws but are more than willing to ignore EU laws when it suits them. Even worse, they are willing to join forces and push through regulations like the current ECB proposal for their own mutual gain that will directly harm other EU members. While most of the recent talk about a doomed euro is centered around the possibility of a Greek default, it's structural issues that may pose the greater danger to the European Union in the long run. The EU is a collection of Democracies that are increasingly lorded over by a central bureaucracy that doesn't have to answer to the citizenry of its member states. Frustration with the situation is growing among citizens across the continent. If Europeans get fed up with the EU in its current form, the euro currency and the European Union itself could be in jeopardy. Investors can take advantage of the situation by shorting the euro with an ETF like the ProShares UltraShort Euro

. Between the possibility of a Greek default and the growing dissatisfaction of Europeans with the EU, the European Union and its supposedly unifying currency are in a precarious situation. At this point, it wouldn't take much more for the euro's fate to be sealed. With so many of the European Union countries trying to keep the European Central Bank happy by passing austerity measures that are detrimental to their own economies, the United Kingdom's decision to stand up to the ECB is a refreshing change. Investors who think that it's a positive sign that the UK's national government is willing to stand up to the ECB may want to take a look at the iShares MSCI United Kingdom Index

. While the United Kingdom has many troubles of its own, it still has the benefit of controlling its monetary policy and has shown a willingness to put the good of the United Kingdom above that of the European Union.