Expanding into the UK
Expanding into the UK: a guide to regulation for global financial services firms
In conjunction with law firm Hogan Lovells, the City Corporation is developing a guide to UK regulation for global financial services firms. It is intended to help non-UK firms understand the UK financial services regime and gives practical guidance about how they can do business in the UK.
See below for an overview of the guide and sign up to receive your copy on 19th November 2024.
Overview
The guide will go into detail on the issues below, and many more:
- What are the main elements of the UK regulatory framework?
- Do I need to obtain authorisation from a UK regulator?
- How do I obtain authorisation in the UK?
- Which initiatives are there to help new entrants to the market?
"The UK has been at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to help regulated firms develop their offerings in the face of changing markets."
Sectors examined
- Asset management: £10.9tn of assets under management
- Banking: 371,000 professionals across the UK
- Fintech: £10bn PE and VC UK Fintech investment
- Insurance: US $159bn of premiums written by the London Market
Why the UK?
The UK is a world-leading global financial centre, with broad and deep expertise across products and markets and strong regulatory and legal coherence with other jurisdictions.
The UK:
- is the world’s preferred regulatory regime for financial services
- is the leading hub for FinTech investment in Europe
- is the world’s largest centre for international debt issuance
- is the world’s largest centre for OTC derivatives trading
- has a deep pool of highly skilled workers
- has a highly developed financial ecosystem and
- has regulators who consistently support innovation and promote further technological adoption
Much of the success of the UK financial services sector is the result of its openness. The UK has intentionally set its regulatory perimeter in such a way as to facilitate access to its markets. In particular:
- the UK’s approach to allowing overseas financial institutions to do business with UK counterparties without needing a licence from the UK is one of the most open approaches of any major jurisdiction;
- in the situations where a UK licence is required, the UK regulators are positively committed to helping overseas firms with that process, as part of the regulators’ commitment to supporting the UK’s international competitiveness and growth in the financial services sector; and
- the UK has consistently shown a strong commitment to supporting innovation in financial services, for example through the use of sandboxes and other initiatives.
Sign up to receive the guide on 19th November 2024"The UK regulators’ competitiveness objective has been an important driver of attempts by the regulators to try and make the UK’s regime more open and competitive."