Brexit and equivalence — the path to salvation for UK banks? Chris Finney writes in The Banker

It is often said that if the EU gave UK banks equivalence, life would be much easier for UK plc and its banking community. But that is not really true.

There are more than 40 areas of potential equivalence. But they are very narrow, and sector and activity specific. So narrow and specific, in fact, that the UK’s payment firms and e-money issuers will literally gain nothing, while the UK banks will not gain much. Why?

The law of the EU was designed, quite openly and deliberately, to protect the union, its member states, its banks and their customers. These are not political points. Like every competent jurisdiction, when the EU makes its laws, it thinks mainly of itself.

This article was first published in The Banker on 3 March 2021. Please click here to read the article in full.