While the FCA requires that all UK regulated firms maintain PII, the demise of passporting and the fact they are no longer authorised to provide advice in the member state in which a client resides, could mean an exclusion in the PII contract comes into play, should a claim arise as a result of that client.
And even if equivalence negotiations deliver an agreement sooner rather than later, it is the UK’s divergence in the future where the real problems could lie – and at very short notice - in many areas of the EU’s equivalence regime, they are only required to provide 30-days' notice of withdrawal.
It therefore only seems logical that UK financial advisers who are not now able to advise in the EU should be immediately writing to their clients there, confirming they can no longer act for them.
Jason Porter is a director of Blevins Franks Financial Management
