Harriet Lance Jones
Plenitude Insights
Capital Markets/Investment Banking
RegSight
AML/CTF/CPFDuring membership of the EU and European Economic Area (EEA), the UK was required to comply with EU legislation,
which in turn granted it access to the EU 'passport’. The passport allowed for free access to capital markets across all EU
member states. With Britain’s departure from the EU, free access to the single market was withdrawn, forcing the UK into
a ‘third country’ status.
Since Brexit, UK legislation and regulation is no longer viewed as implicitly equivalent to that of the EU’s, as the UK was
no longer obliged to comply with the EU’s regulatory structure. Financial institutions are now required to fulfil further third
country criteria, such as gaining formal ‘equivalence’ status from the EU Commission, in order to trade freely and operate
within the EU. While the UK’s legislation may be equivalent in real terms, it cannot obtain the passport without an official
equivalence decision from the EU, which has not yet been granted. As many UK firms have customers or clients based in
the EU, access to EU capital markets is essential, emphasising the need to regain equivalence status.
Conclusion
Given the changes to the UK’s regulatory framework surrounding capital markets, it is imperative for UK firms to keep on top of their obligations so as not to be found in breach which may result in financial penalties from regulators, like the FCA.
Failure to maintain compliance could damage a firm’s reputational capital and potentially give the EU the ammunition to refuse the UK access to EU capital markets, adding to their apparent reluctance to grant the UK with an equivalence decision.
