30/08/19

Assets Shift in Preparation of Brexit.

As published on luxtimes.lu, Thursday August 29, 2019.

The European Central Bank (ECB) expects some €1.3 trillion of bank assets to be moved from London to the euro area after Brexit, a senior regulator said in an interview this week.

Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Central Bank's supervisory board, said that a full 24 banks would relocate entirely. These are either UK institutions or international banks headquartered in London.

“Seven will come under direct ECB supervision, while 17 will remain under national regulations in the countries they chose to relocate to,” Enria told the Finnish state television Yle.

Banks fall under direct ECB supervision if their assets exceed €30 billion assets or if they are on of the three biggest domestic institutions.

The ECB is satisfied with the Brexit preparations and efforts made by the industry following last year's stress tests. "Banks have done what we asked them to do. A contingency plan is in place," Enria said. In particular, the ECB pushed banks to get licences as well as establish branches and subsidiaries to be able to continue servicing EU customers.

Some 60 companies that are active in the financial sector but that are not banks have set up shop in Luxembourg in the wake of Brexit. Luxembourg's financial watchdog, the CSSF, does not see an impact on the local banking sector from the UK's departure from the EU.