Parliament has launched an inquiry to establish:
- the impact of Brexit so far on the financial services sector;
- the future of financial services trade with the EU in the absence of equivalence; and
- the impact of regulatory divergence on UK-EU trade in financial services
Many have called on the Government not to disregard the importance of a close relationship, but the TCA contained very limited provisions on financial services. Despite there being a Joint Declaration on agreeing a MOU for regulatory cooperation now, nearly a year later, still nothing has been signed.
Since the TCA was signed, the UK has granted equivalence to the EU in 28 of the 32 areas identified for the process but the EU has granted only 2, which were temporary and one of which has already expired.
The Committee will report by May.