THE Financial Conduct Authority’s Brexit chief has urged European firms that want to continue operating in the UK in the case of a hard exit to come forward or face having to wind down.
Nausicaa Delfas, executive director of international at the FCA responsible for its international strategy and also for its Brexit preparations, said EU-based firms can register for a “temporary permission regime” to continue conducting business in the UK under a version of the current “passporting” scheme, which allows financial firms and funds to operate across member states, but must do so before March 28.
She said Scots financial firms that do business in the EU should examine changing laws in individual states across Europe as countries seek to develop their own policy.
READ MORE: Brexit vote result: MPs back Article 50 extension
She said: “We’ve done quite a lot of work to make sure that firms and funds can continue to operate in the UK and in the EU and also to ensure that we have a robust regulatory framework on day one.
“It is really important that firms and funds that are currently passporting in to the UK register with the FCA and the temporary permission regime if they want to continue to do new business and operate in the event of a hard exit.”
Speaking during a roadshow to Scotland, where there are 139,000 people employed in financial services, Ms Delfas also said the EU has not yet put in place a reciprocal regime but some member states are issuing their own laws to try to mirror the position of the UK.
READ MORE: Brexit: How would an extension to Article 50 work?
Ms Delfas said: “It’s important that firms that want to operate in different EU countries have a look at what those laws are, what they cover and how they would impact business.
“We have achieved some agreements with the supervisory authorities in the EU which are really important from a point of supervisory co-operation and information sharing.”
That includes agreement with the European Supervisory Markets Authority “that enables fund delegation to continue across border which is important for the asset management industry”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here