What Does Brexit Actually Mean For The Financial Services?

Sarnia Yachts have been watching the Brexit negotiations closely from all perspectives and whilst we don’t provide regulated insurance advice, we know that insurance is essential for the protection of our client’s assets, so what is the current state of play?

After four years of anticipation and trepidation the Trade and Cooperation Agreement has been agreed and the Brexit deal was finally completed in the last gasps of 2020.

Sadly, financial services did not feature as prevalently in the negotiations and subsequent agreement as Sarnia would have hoped. This essentially means there is no automatic access to the EU27 market which is worth billions to UK firms.

Vast amounts of lobbying to continue the ‘passporting’ rights appear to have not been heard by the government and the proposed replacement ‘equivalence’ provides much narrower parameters of access to the EU27. In essence, this is a no deal Brexit in respect of financial services, details of the specifics are yet to be defined and negotiated. Watch this space!

UK insurance companies and intermediaries have been working for some time to transfer EU27 focused operations from the UK to offices within the EEA, putting in place a solution which allows the access to the EEA market that was previously enjoyed. The onus is certainly upon the UK intermediaries to ensure that they are aware of their regulatory permissions to allow them to place risks.

So, what does that mean for Sarnia clients? A good relationship with your insurance broker is key and they will need to provide details of any changes to their business structure which may affect you and the insurance of your asset.

As negotiations progress and the path forward for EEA clients becomes more defined, we hope that the attention deserved for the financial services sector provides a clear and client focused solution.

Sarnia are committed to providing an all-encompassing corporate and yacht management service, including insurance arrangements, so should you wish to discuss any aspect of Brexit or indeed anything else relating to your yacht ownership or operation, then please feel free to contact us on +44 (0)23 8212 6400.

If you would like to discuss any matters surrounding your current or future plans then please get in touch.

Contact Us