Innovate Finance Statement on Brexit paper

CEO of Innovate Finance, Charlotte Crosswell comments on last week's Brexit Paper:

“A key outcome for UK FinTech regarding our future relationship with the European Union is the continued need to serve customers, whilst maintaining access to its 500 million consumers.

The Brexit white paper which has detailed the UK stance on provisions including financial services, mobility, digital services, and data protection amongst others, provides a framework from which future discussions need to continue at pace.

On the financial and related professional services sector, it is clear that the paper advocates the need for maintaining regulatory flexibility whilst protecting financial stability. In light of this it is clear that current ‘equivalence’ regimes are not fit-for-purpose and therefore the UK’s new economic and regulatory arrangement must enhance these existing regimes but also provide a framework for firms to operate across the continent.

It will be imperative in forthcoming discussions to ensure that we strike a future relationship which provides the deepest possible access to the European market.

Equally importantly, when looking at the UK’s future immigration system, continued access to overseas talent remains critical. This is especially so for innovative sub-sectors such as FinTech, where 42% of employees are from overseas. Therefore we welcome further clarity and detail on the government’s reciprocal mobility arrangement with the EU and look forward to engaging with the government on how future immigration policy will support UK FinTech.”