Clifford Chance
How might wholesale financial services contracts be impacted by Brexit?
19 February 2018
With just over a year until the UK is due to leave the European Union, there remains uncertainty as to the future relationship and the nature of any transitional arrangements between the UK and EU27.
As explained in our previous report, “Planning for Brexit, Operational Impacts on Wholesale Banking and Capital Markets in Europe”, financial services firms have already developed plans to adapt to the likelihood of the UK leaving the Single Market and therefore existing “passports” for cross-border financial services between the EU and UK coming to an end.
These plans seek to ensure that firms can continue to service their clients across Europe but will have an impact on their clients which currently benefit from passported services, for example EU27-based clients receiving services from a UK-based entity or branch, and UK-based clients receiving services from an EU27-based entity.
This publication gives guidance to businesses and other market participants, explaining the potential significant impact on contractual relationships for financial services. The guide provides answers to a number of “Frequently Asked Questions” highlighting potential operational and documentation impacts.
Clients are likely to see impacts in respect of existing cross-border contracts and will need to put in place arrangements for new business following Brexit. The FAQs address issues such as which clients may be in scope, which contracts may be affected, how they may be impacted and consequential operational impacts that need to be considered.
We hope that these FAQs provide a helpful guide and assist businesses and market participants in their own Brexit planning. I would like to thank Clifford Chance for their support with this publication.
