New Brexit Legal Guide section available: Banking and Investment Firms

The updated Banking and Investment Firms section of our Brexit Legal Guide is now available.

This provides a useful overview, amongst other things, as to whether:

• during the transition period, passporting rights between the UK and the EEA for banking and investment firms and financial products will continue to apply;
• during the transition period, the UK and the EU reach an agreement that would preserve or confer special access rights that would allow UK and EU firms to access each other’s’ financial services markets;
• after the transition period ends, UK’s firms access to the EU market on the basis of equivalence decisions would be a feasible solution to the expected loss of existing passporting rights;
• after the transition period ends, the Temporary Permissions Regime will allow EEA banks and investment firms currently passporting into the UK to continue operating in the UK for up to three years after the transition period, pending full authorisation from UK regulators;
• after the transition period ends, the Financial Services Contracts Regime (currently in draft) will enable firms which do not enter the Temporary Permissions Regime to wind down their UK business in an orderly fashion.

If you would like to discuss specific arrangements for support through the risks of the move to an uncertain future relationship, on how you might express the concerns of your business to governments, on dispute risks that may arise, or on any other questions or challenges you have, please do contact your regular Herbert Smith Freehills relationship contacts, or otherwise any of our experts listed here.