At 00:00 hrs on 1 February 2020, Brexit is finally a reality and the United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union. However, now that the UK Parliament and the EU Parliament ratified the Withdrawal Agreement on 23 and 29 January 2020, there will be no hard (or no deal) Brexit, at least not for the moment.
Transition period
The Withdrawal Agreement provides for a transition period that will end on 31 December 2020. On the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement, basically all EU law will continue to apply to and in the UK during the transition period. This means that until 31 December 2020, little will change in comparison with the period prior to Brexit. One may say that, as long as no permanent deal on transition has been reached, a soft Brexit applies. During 2020 UK financial institutions will continue to have access to the EU as before. The same goes for EU financial institutions and access to the UK.
As a result, the statutory arrangements made by EU and national legislators and regulators with a view to a hard Brexit, do not need to be enacted in 2020. These arrangements may however still be necessary if no agreement is reached between the UK and the EU on their future relationship. In other words, a hard Brexit is still possible, in which case the statutory arrangements may be enacted after all. Whether this will be the case will become clear in the course of 2020 or even thereafter, should the transition period be extended.
Dutch statutory arrangements for investment firms and AIFMs
As indicated in previous Brexit updates, arrangements have already been made in the Netherlands, or are already in place, to accommodate investment firms and AIFMs from the UK when dealing with professional clients or qualified investors within the Netherlands. This is primarily done with a view to protecting Dutch institutional investors, enabling them to continue to deal with UK investment firms and AIFMs. As a result of the transition period, the new Dutch exemption for UK investment firms that was announced earlier will not be enacted for the moment due to the lack of a hard Brexit.
Action required?
Even though the existing EU regime will continue to apply to and in the UK in 2020, the most important conclusion to be drawn is that for the moment a soft Brexit is now truly a fact, but for the moment only for 2020. This means that parties that have postponed their mitigating actions must still take action to address the consequences of Brexit. While the negotiations between the UK and the EU may still result in an agreement on continued access by UK financial institutions to the EU, success should not be taken for granted. Should such negotiatons fail and in the end result in a hard Brexit, measures will have to be taken to secure continued access to (clients in) the EU.
