equivalence

Any faint optimism that a memorandum of understanding between financial services regulators might fill in gaps in the Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement were dashed this week when the text was leaked. In the fund sector, attention now turns to the extent to which UK and EU decision makers will use product and marketing rules to further their political-economy agendas.

EU-UK relations regarding financial sector regulation are liable to be fraught and driven by political considerations over the medium term. A Luxembourg For Finance (LFF) seminar on 23 February explained why equivalence measures cannot replicate the access and predictability of a full financial services passport.