The United Kingdom submitted on 29 March 2017 the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU. Unless a ratified withdrawal agreement establishes another date, the United Kingdom will become a 'third country' as of 30 March 2019, 00:00h (CET) towards the rest of the EU countries. The European Commission published on 8 February 2018 several notices to prepare stakeholders for this event, explaining the consequences that the UK withdrawal will have on banking and finance rules.
In particular as regards the field of banking and payment services, subject to any transitional arrangement that may be contained in a possible withdrawal agreement, the EU rules including prudential rules in CRR/CRD and Payments Service Directive (PSD) will cease to apply to the United Kingdom as of the withdrawal date.
The European Commission stresses that UK entities providing banking and payment services as well as e-money issuers will lose the so-called "EU passport" and will be treated as third-country entities with regard to their possibility to establish branches or agents in the Member States. Similarly, entities authorised by United Kingdom competent authorities which have established branches in other Member States will have to comply with the rules of the host Member State applicable to branches of entities having their head office in a third country. This includes the requirement to be authorised by the relevant competent authority of the host Member State. Moreover, some prudential treatment may be more severe as exposures to counterparties established in the United Kingdom will be treated as exposures to third countries. The contract continuity and arrangements regarding risk management and control framework will have to be reassessed in terms of the validity and enforceability.
26-3-2018