UK: The Financial Services Contracts (Transitional and Saving Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

The Financial Services Contracts (Transitional and Saving Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 were made today (February 28): see here or here (pdf). They come into force tomorrow (February 29) and are accompanied by an explanatory memorandum and impact assessment: see, respectively, here (pdf) and here (pdf).

The explanatory memorandum explains (at para. 2.1) the purpose of the Regulations as follows:

This instrument will address deficiencies in retained EU law in relation to:

• The European Economic Area’s (EEA) ‘financial services passport’ – which allows firms in EEA states to offer services in any other EEA state on the basis of their home state authorisation.
• Non-UK central counterparties (CCPs) and trade repositories (TRs) that provide certain services in the UK under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

Without this instrument, where these firms do not enter the UK’s temporary regimes they may not be able to meet existing contractual obligations or provide services. This could be detrimental to UK-based customers and could lead to disruption of services".