The Bank of England’s amendments to financial services legislation under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

Update 13 June 2019: PS5/19 was corrected to reflect that Annex BF to The PRA Rulebook: (EU Exit) Instrument 2019 does not come into force on 1 July 2019 but instead comes into force on ‘exit day’, as set out in Appendix 2A: PRA RULEBOOK: EU EXIT (AMENDMENT) INSTRUMENT 2019 published 13 June 2019.

Update 13 June 2019: PS5/19 was updated to add Appendix B.2A which makes a small amendment to the PRA Rulebook: (EU Exit) Instrument 2019 in Appendix B.2. The updated PS, and the April 2019 version are available below. The list of appendices has been updated accordingly.

Published on 18 April 2019, updated on 13 June 2019

Bank of England Policy Statement

PRA Policy Statement 5/19

This policy statement (PS) provides feedback to responses and sets out the Bank and PRA’s near-final policy following:

• Bank of England Consultation Paper (CP), PRA CP25/18 ‘The Bank of England’s approach to amending financial services legislation under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
• PRA CP26/18 ‘UK withdrawal from the EU: Changes to PRA Rulebook and onshored Binding Technical Standards
• Bank of England CP ‘UK withdrawal from the EU: Changes to FMI rules and onshored Binding Technical Standards
• Bank of England CP ‘UK Withdrawal from the EU: The Bank of England’s approach to resolution Statements of Policy and onshored Binding Technical Standards
• Bank of England CP, PRA CP32/18 ‘UK withdrawal from the EU: Further changes to 'PRA Rulebook and Binding Technical Standards' and 'Resolution Binding Technical Standards'

Note: For materials included in the Section A Appendices of the 28 February 2019 version of PS5/19, please see ‘Transitioning to post-exit rules and standards as at 16 April 2019’.

Overview

On Thursday 11 April 2019 the European Council decided, in agreement with the UK, to further extend the period provided for in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union until 31 October 2019. This extension will cease to apply on 31 May 2019 in the event that the UK has not held elections to the European Parliament and not ratified the Withdrawal Agreement by 22 May 2019.

In preparation for circumstances where a withdrawal agreement is not agreed before this date, the Bank of England (Bank) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are publishing final policy materials including EU Exit Instruments, Supervisory Statements (SSs) and a Statement of Policy (SoP). These generally have the effective date of ‘exit day’, which is defined in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to mean 31 October 2019 at 11pm.

These materials were published as ‘near-final’ in Section B of the February 2019 version of PS5/19, published on Thursday 28 February 2019.

The instruments and statements published alongside this PS are now final. As required by the Financial Regulators’ Powers (Technical Standards etc.) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (the ‘Regulations’), the Bank and PRA have made the EU Exit Instruments following HM Treasury’s formal approval of the Bank’s and PRA’s EU Exit Instruments and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consent to the joint FCA-Bank and joint FCA-PRA EU Exit Instruments. 

The Bank and PRA have not changed the policy or significantly altered the text of the published materials since their publication as ‘near-final’. Section B of this PS sets out the limited updates to these materials since they were published as ‘near-final’.

The Bank and PRA are not publishing final versions of the Bank and PRA transitional directions and transitional guidance materials published as ‘near-final’ in Section A of the February 2019 version of PS5/19. In light of the extension, the Bank and PRA will consider whether to make any changes to these directions and guidance materials. The Bank will publish further information on this in due course. For further information, please see Section A of the February 2019 version of PS5/19, available below. 

The instruments and statements are relevant to all firms authorised and regulated by the PRA, financial market infrastructure providers (FMIs) that are currently supervised by the Bank and firms subject to the Bank’s powers as resolution authority. Some of the changes are also relevant to firms authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The instruments and statements may also be relevant to firms that might seek to apply to the PRA or FCA for authorisation, and to FMIs that might apply to the Bank for recognition.

Implementation and next steps

All EU Exit Instruments appended to this PS update have been finalised and have the commencement date of ‘exit day’. 

The Bank will communicate further in the event of other relevant developments. 

Policy Statement 5/19 - June 2019

Appendices

Section B

7. Bank (as resolution authority) Binding Technical Standards (EU Exit) Instruments:

9. Bank (as FMI competent authority) Binding Technical Standards (EU Exit) Instruments: