Clifford Chance
The UK Referendum – Challenges for Europe’s Capital Markets: A legal and regulatory assessment
21 March 2016
A vote on 23 June for the UK to leave the EU would result in a radical change in the relationship between the UK and the continuing Member States of the EU (C-EU) which could fracture the integration achieved so far in these markets and forestall the future integration promised by the plans for an EU Capital Markets Union. Clifford Chance has prepared a report, commissioned by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), assessing the legal and regulatory impacts of the exit of the UK from the EU (Brexit) on the EU's wholesale capital markets and the arrangements that might exist or be created to mitigate those impacts in the context of a new relationship between the UK and the C-EU. In particular, the paper discusses the importance of the EU "passports" in integrating European financial markets, the alternative treaty frameworks for a UK-EU relationship post-Brexit and the extent to which existing "third country" regimes in EU legislation might mitigate the impact of the UK leaving the EU on cross-border business.
