Brexit and Financial Services - a helpful US contribution

On 25th January 2019, the Bank of England ( BoE), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC) published a helpful Joint Statement on the continuity of derivatives trading and clearing post-Brexit.

The Joint Statement confirms that post-Brexit trading and clearing of financial instruments known as derivatives as between the UK and US will continue very much as it did when the UK was part of the EU and furthermore that existing Memoranda of Understanding between the BoE or the FCA on the one hand and the CTFC on the other will be updated to reflect new arrangements that are coming into place concerning CTFC- registered counterparties (CCPs).

In addition to the Memoranda of Understanding .  there are a number of technical market- related documents  that will need to be updated by the BoE , FCA and the CTFC to facilitate the continued smooth operation of the UK-US derivatives markets and the Joint Statement goes into some detail  about this.

The real point for present purposes is that , at least in the area of derivatives trading and clearing, the UK and the US seem determined  that it should be business as usual regardless of Brexit.

A ray of sunshine in a cold climate.