“The key is to have close communication with our clients,” one panellist said at this years AFME conference.
Discussing the implications of Brexit, in particular best and worst case scenarios for the buy-side and custodians, the panellist added: “The problem is that so little is known about the transition. At the moment custodians are acting upon clients needs, it has been, in a way, relatively easy.”
In terms of Brexit as a priority, one panellist indicated that it wasn’t really on top of their list. They said: “We struggle with whether we should put Brexit on the agenda and we really haven't as we have other priorities, there just isn’t the meat to sink your teeth into in Brexit really. The key thing is that we have close communication with our clients.”
Another panellist said: “We had to consider a worse case scenario — loss of the ability to sell UCITS funds. The merger happened, and for a number of reasons we built up an existing base in Luxembourg. And in Ireland, where we already had a presence already, we decided to make that second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) entity. Those steps started to be put into place quite early on, and doing anything like that is quite a big undertaking.”
The panellist added: “If you were a purely domestic player then you might have made different decisions. It really depends on your business, what your size is and how long it is going to take. We don’t know what the in-landscape is going to look like and there are lots of other things to consider.”
The panel also discussed sell-side firms, with one panellist saying that there is much discussion over how projects are run for sell-side firms.
The panel were then asked how they found working with partners in the market and where communication could be improved.
To this question, one panellist said: “There was not a broad sharing of information until very recently, one of the reasons for this is because everyone knows humans will be impacted — we wouldn't want rumours to spread around and the panic that comes with that, that was done behind closed doors.”
Continuing on this point, the panellist said: “If you look into asset management industry it is a question of competition. For example, how much are you willing to share of your future strategy?”
He added: “More and more people and institutions are publishing their plans. Everyone is trying now to figure out what the other side is planning. That is the tricky aspect of Brexit, as it throws up into the air the entire infrastructure that we have so far.”
The attention then shifted to how much time businesses will spend trying to figure Brexit out, one panellist pointed out that it is important to be reactive.
One speaker went on to say: “After the initial shock of the Brexit referendum, it was business as usual because nothing is changing. It could be a couple of years before this becomes legislation.”
“It is quite hard to be technical and have an eye on what is happening because all around aspects are changing. We need to keep an eye on what is happening in European regulation. It is incredibly draining. A lot of the changes will be commercial rather than regulatory. You have to be reactive to so many things.”
Closing the panel on a positive note, the moderator asked panellists to name one opportunity that the Brexit process may bring to them.
For one panellist, an increase in their UK office’s staff numbers was seen as an opportunity.
Another panellist commented that there is opportunity to establish presences in different jurisdictions. Another speaker said that Brexit may pose more competition in terms of regulation.
They added that the “UK will have its own regime and so an aspect of making it attractive and safe for investors, might be a point that has a higher standard in future.”
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