Lucy HadrillBaroness Donaghy, chair of the House of Lords EU Services Sub-Committee, has responded to HMT’s letter of 21 September which set out the Government’s responses to previous queries of the Sub-Committee on UK-EU regulatory cooperation for UK financial services post-Brexit.
In the response, Baroness Donaghy welcomed the Government’s call for parliamentary engagement on equivalence. The letter also expressed various concerns of the Lords, including reports that financial services companies are pressing ahead with plans to move jobs from the UK to the EU. The Lords is worried that the absence of equivalence could add friction and costs for businesses and potentially accelerate job losses.
The House of Lords noted that UK and EU businesses still do not have clarity on equivalence determinations, despite being so close to the end of the transition period and asked the following questions of the Government:
- Does the Government now know when the EU will publish its equivalence determinations?
- When will the Government publish the outcomes of its assessments?
- Was the temporary extension of equivalence to UK central clearing counterparties agreed in discussions between the Commission and the Government?
- When does the Government expect to publish its guidance on the UK’s equivalence framework?
