Brussels Review: With Graham Bishop, Denis MacShane and Andrew Henderson

Why you should watch: We may not be members of the EU, but (for the moment) we are of the Single Market. More than that, London is still the major financial centre in Europe - but it is clearly under threat, and not just from Michel Barnier. The European Commission has a new Financial Services Commissioner, who is by no means sympathetic to the City. There is a short extension for UK clearing houses, but the pressure on institutions to move substantial amounts of real business into the EU27 is intense. There is also a revision of MIFID coming up - perhaps the first major piece of legislation where the UK has a keen interest, but where we won't be represented around the table. That could hurt. On the other hand, a rewrite of Solvency 2 is very likely to incorporate some (at least) of the key elements of the recent High Court judgement on pandemic insurance; the Commission will be keen to make sure contracts actually 'do what it says on the tin'. Beyond that, look for a much more active role in EU standard-setting, particularly in the ESG area. An unexpectedly lively discussion on regulatory developments in Brussels and beyond with three very active Euro-watchers. (Oh, and BTW, there is an intriguing prediction of a 'pirouette' by BoJo on the whole thorny issue of Brexit.)

Moderator: Andrew Hilton (Director, CSFI)

Panellists:

Graham Bishop describes himself as a 'fixture in the City since 1972' who is 'renowned for his vision and courage' - and who am I to question that? He fought valiantly against what he saw (and sees) as the folly of Brexit, through The City in Europe and Britain in Europe, and remains a Council member of the Federal Trust and an Executive Committee member of the UK European Movement. He is also sole prop. of grahambishop.com, an on-line EU consultancy.

Denis MacShane was Minister of State for Europe from 2002-05, and MP for Rotherham for a good deal longer. Educated at Oxford and Birkbeck (from which he has a PhD), he is a former delegate to the Council of Europe and a compulsive author - inter alia, of Brexiternity, Brexit, No exit and, of course, Prison Diaries. He is a prolific twitterer .and blogger on European issues. He has also recently taken out Irish citizenship.

Andrew Henderson - who has also taken out Irish citizenship (he is South African by origin) - is a partner with Macfarlanes, which he joined at the beginning of this year from Eversheds Sutherland, specializing in financial regulation, particularly issues relating to Brexit. He has a PhD from Cambridge, where he was also a law lecturer.

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Produced/Edited by Alex Treptow