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With Brexit having been signed off and calls for Scottish Independence growing louder with each passing day, some analysts have started to look beyond what #IndyRef2 would look like, to consider what would come after. There is a general consensus that, if Scotland were to vote for independence, then the country would immediately apply to rejoin the European Union as a fully-fledged member state.
One current report suggests that this entire process could take as little as five years, meaning that Scotland could very well be a paid-up member of the EU, once again, by the middle of the decade. While there are plenty of benefits in the EU for a country with a GDP and population roughly the same as Finland joining the club, there would also be some trade-offs.
It is more than likely that Scotland would be unable to retain a currency opt-out, meaning that it would have to switch its currency from the British Pound Sterling (GBP) to the Euro (EUR). It would also mean that Scotland's sizeable financial sector would have to sign up to EU 'passporting' regulations, governing trades, and transactions.
All of this would likely have a significant impact on private financial traders across Scotland. With all this in mind, here is what we might expect is Scotland rejoined the EU.
Currency
The most noticeable change for private citizens and traders, in the event of Scotland joining the EU, would be the currency. The Scottish pounds in your pocket would no longer be considered legal tender once the Eurozone rules kick in and the Euro becomes the official currency of Scotland. This would hence affect all forms of trade within a newly independent Scotland.
In terms of import and export markets, the cost of buying and selling would be determined largely by the value of the Euro, which is currently lower than the value of the Pound. This would also have a sizeable impact on Scotland's foreign exchange (forex) trading markets.
Those who would like to learn more about what forex trading is, should keep in mind that it is one of the largest financial activities in the world, in which the conversion of one currency to another accounts for more than $5 trillion worth of trades per day. Scotland's entry into the EU would likely have a significant impact on, say, the pairing of the GBP and EUR, that traders would need to be aware of when operating across the global financial markets.
Financial Regulations & Monetary Policy
Another impact of Scotland joining the EU that would quickly become noticeable would be the new financial regulations that would be put in place. At the moment, the UK currently follows most of the financial regulations laid out in the EU trade policy, although there is less regulation in certain areas of the UK's market than in most EU countries.
This would likely change in Scotland upon rejoining. In order for the large financial companies in Edinburgh to enjoy access to EU markets, they would have to sign up to EU rules regarding 'passporting', which is the process by which member states can complete financial trades and transactions freely across the Bloc.
Another impact for traders would be in the realm of monetary policy. Key decisions such as interest rate rises and quantitative easing would be signed off at the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt. While Scotland would have a say over monetary decisions that affect it, so would the 27 other EU member states.
These are the main ways that Scotland's re-accession to the EU would affect financial trading. While it is impossible to predict exactly how things would change, the previous experience of new EU member states suggests that this is broadly accurate.
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