Financial Institutions
Brexit presents a complex set of challenges for the Financial Institutions Sector.
Many of the issues faced apply across sectors, such as engaging with the Brexit process to help shape priorities, retaining talent or maintaining cross-border data flows, but its highly-regulated operating environment also creates material additional hurdles to navigate, such as planning for the loss of "passporting" rights as a mechanism for cross-border access to, and from, the EU. Understanding the options available to mitigate the potential impact of Brexit, requires a strong financial services team in the UK and across Europe.
Since before the general election in 2015, we have been developing our thinking on potential Brexit issues for financial institutions through our work for clients and our engagement with governments and regulators in the UK and the EU. We have been analysing the implications of a range of potential outcomes and the solutions which could be applied, providing guidance on the merits of various jurisdictions if relocation is required and on the potential impacts on different business lines.
Following the referendum, we have produced a wealth of materials on Brexit and we are working with industry bodies including TheCityUK, the BBA, Innovate Finance, the City of London Corp and TISA to develop thought leadership on the impact of Brexit across the sector and help provide a practical, factual legal context to support policymakers in shaping their priorities, as well as to clients in preparing contingency plans.
Most recently, we have been involved in producing a report with TheCityUK and The City of London Corporation's co-sponsored International Regulatory Strategy Group on the 'EU’s Third Country Regimes and Alternatives to Passporting', which published on 23 January 2017. On this topic, we have also produced a note exploring the key differences between passporting and equivalence regimes to aid understanding of the gaps in current market access offered by the latter.
We have held a series of webinars to help clients understand what the UK financial environment might look like post-Brexit and what institutions should be thinking about now: beginning with a general post-referendum webinar on financial services and following this up with other webinars looking at the impact on specific business lines, including Debt Capital Markets, Retail Banking, Wealth Management and Payment Institutions, and Market Infrastructure.
Our Brexit Effect: Implications for Financial Services report outlines the potential impacts of Brexit on different financial institutions businesses.
We will be producing further content as the UK's Brexit policy is developed, so please continue to check back on this page
You can also send any questions to FISBrexit@hoganlovells.com.