Hunt signs post-Brexit financial services deal with Switzerland
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the agreement ‘cements open access for financial services between our two nations for decades to come’.
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Hunt has signed a financial services deal with Switzerland aimed at easing UK firms’ access to the Swiss market and vice versa.
Banking trade body UK Finance said it was a “landmark agreement” which could pave the way for deals with other key global financial centres.
The post-Brexit deal, based on mutual recognition of domestic laws and regulations, was signed by the Chancellor and his Swiss counterpart Karin Keller-Sutter in Bern.
It cements open access for financial services between our two nations for decades to come, helping us grow the economy and serving as a blueprint for future agreements with other key trading partners
Mr Hunt said it was a “global first” which “builds on the UK and Switzerland’s strengths as two of the world’s largest financial centres”.
“It cements open access for financial services between our two nations for decades to come, helping us grow the economy and serving as a blueprint for future agreements with other key trading partners.”
It will create a framework to facilitate cross-border trade in wholesale financial services, with the Treasury hoping this will boost the City of London.
When Britain left the European Union it risked losing the benefits of its former trading arrangements with Switzerland, which were based on Brussels’ rules despite it not being a member state.
The innovative agreement sets an ambitious precedent and we hope it will serve as the new standard for future deals with other financial centres around the world
The new deal will mean frictionless, cross-border provision of financial services between the UK and Switzerland across areas such as asset management, banking and investment services.
UK Finance chief executive David Postings said: “The UK-Switzerland Mutual Recognition Agreement is a landmark agreement.
“Given it’s been drafted specifically for the financial services sector, the market access provisions and measures aimed at removing regulatory barriers go much further than those normally included in trade deals.
“The innovative agreement sets an ambitious precedent and we hope it will serve as the new standard for future deals with other financial centres around the world.”
For certain sectors it means that a firm based in the UK will be able to serve clients in Switzerland while largely following UK rules, and vice versa.
The Treasury said the deal will also mean that the UK will be exempt from a 2024 requirement for foreign insurance firms to establish a base in the country before serving Swiss clients.