As the date of the UK’s departure gets nearer there still appears to be little solid information on work that must be carried out in the next 14 months. Never the less the news continues following our last post on the topic (see here). The general news talks of the higher level political process, for example here on the Bloomberg “Brexit bulletin”. There have also been more industry specific developments:

Last week, Kay Swinburne MEP who is the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs told an audience of the possible issues with “equivalence” status, as reported here on the Reuters web site. Equivalence is a process that can take some time, but which will be aided by the fact that the UK currently applies all EU rules as a member. There is a warning in the speech not to deviate from EU rules for now, with the political element also highlighted. At the same time, the AFME has issued a paper, which takes the position that a “cliff edge” Brexit would be negative. It can be downloaded from here. The issue of contracts is still much discussed, for example in this article on Financier Worldwide by Chris DeConti.

On the energy side the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment subcommittee  published this report yesterday on the possible impact of Brexit on energy security. It looks at the consequences of leaving the internal market, on the GB market and also the iSEM, which is due to start in Ireland spanning both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from May 2018. This article on the FT web site looks at the possible change in influence over Energy Union policy after Brexit, and the possible impact on the viability of inter connectors.  This article on the Huffington Post web site claims that additional resiliency may be required due to Brexit, if the UK leaves the internal energy market.

While these news stories are interesting, many are now wanting some tangible information on how to prepare for the 29th March 2019. Real projects need to start and it is hard to do so without requirements. As a result many are now planning on a “scenario” basis instead.

eWorld meetings
We will be attending the eWorld fair in Essen during the week of 6th February. Anyone wishing to meet to discuss regulatory issues, be it on Brexit, MiFID II, anti absue rules, the application of blockchain or any other appropriate topic is welcome to email us at info@etr-advisory.com or via the form on the ETR web site here.