As the European financial market regulators are preparing for Brexit , the Croatian Hanfa has announced that it is going to remove over 800 companies based in the UK and Gibraltar from its registry.
On Christmas eve, the UK Prime Minister announced the agreement on a Brexit deal between the 27 country bloc and Britain. However, it did not provide enough relief to London’s key financial services industry.
This means the UK companies passporting their licensing rights to offer services in EEA have to acquire a European license or wind up their European businesses after the transition period deadline of December 31, 2020.
Hanfa detailed that companies to be deregistered include 167 UK and 3 Gibraltar-based companies offering financial services, 59 EU fund management companies, 110 UK-based (re)insurance companies, 5 Gibraltar-based (re)insurance companies, 464 insurance distributors from the UK, and 1 insurance distributor from Gibraltar.
“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) has no longer been an EU Member State as of 1 February 2020 and will become a third country with respect to EU Member States as of 1 January 2021,” Hanfa stated.
“There are no entities from the UK or Gibraltar providing services in the territory of Croatia through a branch, so Hanfa will not need to update such registers.”
A Blow to Financial Services
The financial markets of the UK and Europe are interconnected. So, the ESMA and the FCA are taking steps for a smooth transition of businesses by issuing draft rules on several financial activities.
Meanwhile, many brokers are approaching EU countries to gain local licenses to continue their European operations while many others have shut down their operations.
Interactive Brokers recently established two new European entities, one in Hungary and the other in Ireland, and has already started to migrate European clients from its UK entity.
