The Law and Brexit II

In this post, we have addressed one of the more controversial areas of Brexit aftermath: whether London’s position as a key center for the clearing of euro-denominated securities and derivatives can be maintained. Although the attempt by the European Central Bank (the “ECB”) to impose a eurozone “location policy” failed in the EU courts last year, we conclude that Brexit materially increases the possibility that substantial volumes of clearing activity will move out of London, which may be a contributing factor towards a gradual migration of broker-dealer and derivatives trading activity out of the UK. We then examine the impact of Brexit on the development of anti-money laundering legislation in the EU. Although there will be concerns about divergence in the anti-money laundering regimes of the UK and the EU over the longer term, in the short term we expect the UK to maintain and develop a system which is substantially the same as that operating in the remaining EU member states.