The UK’s financial regulator has welcomed a provisional agreement on a 21-month implementation period after the UK leaves the European Union which will temporarily maintain valuable passporting rights.
The Financial Conduct Authority said that the agreement – reached at a summit of European leaders in Brussels last week – would allow firms and funds currently benefiting from an EU passport to continue to sell their services around the 28-member bloc without the need for any authorisation until December 2020.
Last December the UK government said it would legislate for a temporary permission regime if necessary.
The FCA said in a statement today that firms and funds that will be regulated only by the FCA will need to notify the FCA if they want to be part of the regime.
“Notification will not require submission of an application for authorisation. We will set out further details on these proposals later in the year,” the statement said.
The transition period agreed last week has no legal status as it is only a political deal that will not be formally ratified until the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU are finalised – likely to be the end of the year at the earliest.
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