(26 March 2018 – UK) UK headquartered banks are still planning for a March 2019 departure from the UE after European regulators declined to offer any formal assurances for how business can be conducted during the transition period.
To stop a “cliff-edge” Brexit, banks need formal guarantees from UK and EU regulators that there is no risk of losing their passporting rights before December 2020. This assurance is expected to be announced from the Bank of England next week, helping European-based groups that still want to access the City, however the European Central Bank has not agreed to extend the same guarantee to those headquartered in the UK.
The ECB have said “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” and are insisting UK banks keep to a June deadline for submitting their new license applications.
Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are among the large investment banks that have begun to move staff out of the UK ahead of the impending cut-off date.