Helping you continue business in the UK through Brexit and beyond

Structural, strategic and governance advice

As we experience a fast-changing political, regulatory and economic environment, we can assist clients in assessing the pros and cons of macro and strategic options you are considering when taking steps to strengthen the future of your business. 

We can advise on:

• The regulatory and practical implications of a potential relocation (including with regards to staff, operational and compliance requirements). 
• The accessibility of the UK market along with the corresponding applicable pre-conditions and/or practical solutions. 
• The regulatory and/or client engagement and communications, as required by relevant rules or expected in accordance with market practice.
• How these changes may impact your organisational governance structure and reporting mechanism including advising on applicable accountability regimes.

We can further assist your board and senior management team remain on top of regulatory developments, evaluate regulatory risk and develop practical solutions to minimise the impact of any upcoming changes. 

Regulatory perimeter and licensing analysis

We work with clients to understand their client business and activities before undertaking a regulatory perimeter analysis to determine whether such activities would trigger licensing requirements. We would also consider the availability and applicability of exemptions, exclusions or alternative structuring methods to keep outside of the regulatory perimeter if that is the preferred outcome. 

This type of exercise could involve, for instance:

• The regulatory characterisation of the products being traded and whether they are classified as specified financial instruments.
• The means of approaching clients such as through reverse solicitation or a legitimate approach. 
• The conditions of various exemptions and exclusions including the overseas persons exclusion and the ancillary activity exemption. 

In this context, we are also able to produce practical guidelines to assist your staff and business teams to remain in compliance with the relevant rules and to avoid stepping over into the spectrum of regulated activities.   

Authorisation application and communications with regulators

For clients who wish to seek regulatory authorisation, our team has extensive experience and knowledge in the preparation and submission of relevant applications. We can assist you in deciding the optimal scope of your authorisation and advise on the regulatory expectations regarding the content of your application. 

We can further help you in collating the necessary information and documentation and putting together and reviewing your submission application pack to the regulator(s). Moreover, we can assist you in drafting the necessary policies and procedural documents leveraging our experience and practical knowhow in this area.  

Finally, once the application has been submitted, we can assist you in addressing any follow-up questions from the regulator(s) and work towards a swift approval of your application.

Focussed advice in connection with your Brexit project

Utilising the extensive NRF network, we are able to also offer advice on areas connected to any of these work stream including with regards to tax, data privacy, intellectual property, employment, as well as general corporate issues arising. We work closely with our colleagues specialising in these areas and are able to offer a “one-stop-shop” service to our clients. 

Understanding and complying with the UK onshored Regime

We fully appreciate the complexities involved in the Brexit-related regulatory changes and are able to assist you navigate through the application of the onshored rules following the end of the Brexit transitional. 

We have followed regulatory developments closely and remain up-to-date with the positions taken and proposals put forward by relevant industry bodies. 

We have undertaken extensive work for clients in the past few years and addressed technical questions regarding the scope and application of the onshored rules and their respective divergence from the EU corresponding provisions (such as the application of the EU and UK versions of the derivatives and share trading obligations under MiFID II). 

We have further developed practical tools, such as the Pathfinder Plus, to help you familiarise yourself with the new rules. 

Ongoing legal interpretative advice and compliance monitoring and reviews

Separate to the above, we can assist you in interpreting the scope and regulatory implications of the regulatory requirements applicable to your firm and help you put in place appropriate and practical solutions to ensure your compliance. Moreover, we can provide you with ongoing compliance monitoring services, compliance reviews, board reporting and assist you in ensuring that you remain up-to-date with regulatory developments and market practice.