Hard Brexit For Financial Services

Since 1 January 2021 economic relations between the EU and the UK are governed by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement ("TCA") agreed on 24 December 2020 between the EU and the UK as a third country (see link here). The UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016 and officially left the EU on 31 January 2020. But both sides had agreed to keep much of their economic relationship unchanged until the end of 2020. That transition period provided for in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has now come to an end. Henceforth, the EU and the UK form two distinct regulatory and legal spaces and the UK's relationship with the EU is based on international law.

The TCA is an important and welcome achievement. It creates a basis for a constructive partnership.