| UK & Europe | Press releases
NEWS RELEASE: Analysis of data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) by financial regulatory consultancy Bovill has revealed that almost 100 Dublin-based firms have applied to open a new office in the UK after Brexit, including 19 investment banks and investment management firms.
Bovill’s FOI revealed 1,500 EU-based financial services firms have applied to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) to continue to operate in the UK post-Brexit and around 1,000 will be setting up offices for the first time. This includes almost 230 firms that are currently domiciled in Ireland, more firms than from any other European country.
Bovill says the findings demonstrate the importance of an agreement on financial services between the EU and UK that allows both UK and Irish firms to continue to conduct business on both sides of the Irish Sea with as little friction as possible.
Mike Johnson, Managing Consultant at Bovill, comments:
“The UK is Europe’s only global financial centre so it is natural that EU based firms want to continue to do business in the UK, now that the EU passporting regime has ended. The UK and Irish financial services sectors are more interconnected with each other than with any other European countries, particularly in asset management. These numbers suggest that many Irish firms, particularly in Dublin, foresee the benefit of maintaining access to the UK market.
“With negotiations ending in an anti-climactic Memorandum of Understanding between the two sides last month, it is clear that there is little prospect in the near future for equivalence or mutual recognition arrangements that would enable EU firms to access the UK market in the same way they were able to before Brexit.
“For this reason, it makes sense for EU firms to create a base in the UK for continued access to a global financial centre, particularly as the UK Government is already moving to improve the competitiveness of the UK from a tax, legal and regulatory perspective.
“While the FCA can be more efficient than other EU regulators, the licensing process of firms can be complex and time consuming and businesses will need to engage local professional advice. Firms on the TPR or those who still wish to apply for authorisation in the UK for the first time should not delay in beginning this process.”
Bovill’s FOI from last year showed 1,441 firms had applied to the TPR and 83% of these were on a ‘services’ passport, meaning they would need to set up a UK office for the first time. With the Brexit transition period over and the TPR window closed, Bovill repeated its FOI at the end of December. 2020. This found that 1,476 firms have signed up to the regime, including 230 from Ireland and 93 from Dublin, which are awaiting FCA authorisation in order to operate in the UK.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Polly Barton – Bovill
+44 (0)20 7620 8440
Tabitha Adams – Luther Pendragon
+44 (0)7500 013062
About Bovill
Bovill is a specialist financial services regulatory consultancy, established in 1999 and headquartered in the UK with offices in London, Chicago, Singapore and Hong Kong. Our sole activity is the provision of high-quality, technically-focused advice and consultancy services on all aspects of financial services regulation. We aim to develop effective solutions to the complex problems of our clients, and do not offer commoditised advice or services. Bovill has experts spanning all aspects of financial regulation in the UK, EU, Asia and the Americas.
Notes to Editors
Freedom of Information (FOI) response from the FCA on 29/01/21:
Reference: FOI7904
Thank you for your email of 31 December 2020, about the Temporary Permission Regime (TPR).
We have processed your email as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). For ease of reference we will respond to each point in turn.
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime.
As at 14 January 2021, the total number of firms in TPR was 1,476.
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by the firm’s home state.
The information you have requested is contained in the table below.
Country | Number of Firms |
AUSTRIA | 21 |
BELGIUM | 85 |
BULGARIA | 8 |
CROATIA | 2 |
CYPRUS | 151 |
CZECH REPUBLIC | 18 |
DENMARK | 23 |
ESTONIA | 2 |
FINLAND | 8 |
FRANCE | 186 |
GERMANY | 168 |
GREECE | 15 |
HUNGARY | 3 |
ICELAND | 5 |
IRELAND | 230 |
ITALY | 45 |
LATVIA | 6 |
LIECHTENSTEIN | 26 |
LITHUANIA | 43 |
LUXEMBOURG | 101 |
MALTA | 59 |
NETHERLANDS | 106 |
NORWAY | 32 |
POLAND | 15 |
PORTUGAL | 9 |
ROMANIA | 2 |
SLOVAKIA | 4 |
SLOVENIA | 1 |
SPAIN | 51 |
SWEDEN | 51 |
Grand Total | 1,476 |
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by firm type.
The requested information is contained the table below.
Firm type | Number of firms |
Advisers and Intermediaries | 95 |
Alternative Asset Manager (e.g. hedge fund / private equity manager) | 6 |
Alternatives | 31 |
Asset Management | 106 |
Asset Manager | 18 |
Contracts for Differences (CFD) Providers | 96 |
Corporate Finance Firms | 4 |
Credit Unions | 1 |
Custody Services | 5 |
Custody Services and Administrators | 5 |
Debt purchasers, debt collectors and debt administrators | 1 |
E-Money Issuer | 68 |
Life Insurance | 24 |
Lloyd’s and London Market Intermediaries (inc Managing General Agents) | 90 |
Lloyd’s Managing Agents and London Market (Re) Insurers (inc P & I Clubs) | 51 |
Mainstream Consumer Credit Lenders | 2 |
Mortgage Intermediaries | 1 |
Motor Finance Providers | 1 |
Multilateral Trading Facilities and Organised Trading Facilities | 5 |
Multilateral Trading Facility | 3 |
Non-Bank Lenders | 1 |
Organised Trading Facility | 1 |
Payment Services Firm | 176 |
Personal and Commercial Lines Insurance Intermediaries | 316 |
Personal and Commercial Lines Insurers (inc EEA Insurers) | 121 |
Platforms | 3 |
Principal Trading Firms | 24 |
Retail Bank | 46 |
Retail Finance Providers | 4 |
Wealth Asset Management | 2 |
Wealth Management | 29 |
Wealth Managers and Stockbrokers | 5 |
Wholesale (Other) | 18 |
Wholesale Bank | 80 |
Wholesale Brokers | 37 |
Grand Total | 1,476 |
Please note, the figures provided refer to the information held, as at 14 January 2021, and will be subject to change as more information is received about the TPR firms
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by passport being used.
The requested information can be viewed in the table below:
Directive | Number of firms |
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive | 54 |
Banking Consolidation Directive | 108 |
Insurance Distribution | 461 |
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive | 390 |
Mortgage Credit Directive | 2 |
Payment Services Directive | 146 |
Second Electronic Money Directive | 82 |
Solvency II Directive | 182 |
UCITS IV Directive | 46 |
UCITS Management Directive | 5 |
Grand Total | 1,476 |
On 11 October 2019 Bovill sent the following Freedom of Information request to the FCA:
Reference: FOI6833
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by the firm’s home state
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by firm type (e.g. asset manager, wealth manager, broker, etc.)
- The total number of notifications received from firms to use the temporary permissions regime broken down by passport being used (e.g. MiFID services; MiFID branch; AIFMD Marketing; AIFMD management; etc.)
The answers were as follows:
- 1,441
2.
Country | Number |
IRELAND | 228 |
FRANCE | 170 |
CYPRUS | 165 |
GERMANY | 149 |
NETHERLANDS | 131 |
LUXEMBOURG | 106 |
MALTA | 65 |
BELGIUM | 62 |
LIECHTENSTEIN | 51 |
SPAIN | 45 |
ITALY | 40 |
SWEDEN | 35 |
NORWAY | 32 |
DENMARK | 27 |
LITHUANIA | 25 |
AUSTRIA | 22 |
CZECH | 15 |
POLAND | 13 |
GREECE | 11 |
FINLAND | 11 |
PORTUGAL | 7 |
BULGARIA | 7 |
ICELAND | 5 |
LATVIA | 5 |
HUNGARY | 4 |
SLOVENIA | 3 |
ESTONIA | 2 |
SLOVAKIA | 2 |
ROMANIA | 2 |
CROATIA | 1 |
Total | 1441 |
3.
Firm type | Number |
Advisers and intermediaries | 254 |
Personal and Commercial Lines Insurers (incl. EEA insurers) | 172 |
Asset Manager | 141 |
Payment Services Firm | 135 |
Contracts for Difference Providers | 111 |
Personal and Commercial Lines Insurance Intermediaries | 77 |
Retail Bank | 71 |
Wholesale Bank | 63 |
Lloyds & London Market Intermediaries (incl. Managing General Agents) | 62 |
Wholesale Brokers | 52 |
Wealth Managers and Stockbrokers | 50 |
E-money Issuer | 47 |
Life Insurance | 45 |
Principal Trading Firms | 39 |
Alternative Asset Manager (e.g. hedge fund / private equity manager) | 34 |
Corporate Finance Firms | 20 |
Lloyds Managing Agents & London Market (Re)Insurers (incl. P&I Clubs) | 16 |
Other | 9 |
Custody Services and Administrators | 8 |
Multilateral Trading Facility | 8 |
Credit brokers | 7 |
Platforms | 5 |
Retail finance providers | 5 |
Mainstream consumer credit lenders | 3 |
Organised Trading Facility | 3 |
Motor finance providers | 2 |
Non-Bank Lenders | 1 |
Retail Mortgage Lenders | 1 |
Total | 1441 |
4.
Directive | Branch | Services | Total | As % of total number of passports |
AIFMD | 24 | 52 | 76 | 61 |
PSD | 11 | 112 | 123 | 53 |
SEMD | 3 | 55 | 58 | 51 |
UCITS | 15 | 46 | 61 | 49 |
MiFID | 81 | 486 | 567 | 43 |
IDD | 92 | 368 | 460 | 10 |
MCD | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
Total | 1346 |