Banks Should Prepare for a 'Hard Brexit' – UK Financial Regulator

The warning comes as the deadline for Brexit fast approaches, and the UK and Brussels remain deadlocked on some of the terms of Britain’s post-Brexit trading arrangement with the EU.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Britain’s financial regulatory body, has told banks to start making preparations and contingency plans for a hard Brexit, City A.M. reported on Friday.

READ MORE: France Prepares for Possible 'No Deal' UK Split With EU on Brexit Conditions

This morning, Nausicaa Delfas, head of international strategy at the FCA, said it is important to “continue to plan for a range of scenarios,” including the UK exiting the trading bloc without a deal in place.

"Across the FCA, together with colleagues from the Bank of England (BoE) and the government, we have been working to develop a number of safeguards and contingencies, in the event of a hard Brexit, to ensure that 'day one' works smoothly," Nausicaa Delfas told banks and business leaders at a CityUK event on July 20.

With Brexit just eight months away, newly appointed Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab told parliament his ministry will soon be publishing guidance on a hard Brexit in a bid to tackle some of the uncertainty surrounding the prospect of a no-deal scenario.

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published research warning that the British economy would be hit significantly harder than the EU’s by a hard Brexit, echoing previous warnings from other global economic bodies. 

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, WTO trading rules would come into effect, rendering the UK subject to tariffs on EU imports and exports, resulting in price inflation, at least in the short run, and making British exports less competitive relative to alternatives in the union.

READ MORE: UK Economy to Suffer More Than EU in Case of 'No Deal' Brexit — IMF