About the Brexit, British banks decided to close their customers’ accounts in Europe. Private bank Coutts has kept clients informed of the new banking arrangements and warned them that they are expected to close their accounts in the European Union by the end of the year. With Brexit, they lose the financial passport that until then allowed them to operate there.
1.3 million Britons, including 350,000 pensioners, who now live in the European Union are facing one of the serious consequences of Brexit. Without having to wait for the UK’s final exit on 31 December, several UK banks have warned their customers living in EU that they will be forced to close their accounts by the end of the year. According to an official at the European Central Bank, eurozone banks are ready for the Brexit deadline but a UK exit from the EU without a final deal could create problems that would be difficult to resolve.
In general, although the main issues have been temporarily addressed in order to prevent major systemic risks in the possibility that there were no agreement, it will indeed take another 18 months of intense negotiations before the announcing the final rules that will govern the UK banking sector. Hence, it is impossible to say whether these negotiations will be concluded during the transition period.
For a small British national bank, Brexit is unlikely to have much impact. On the other hand, for the big banks in Europe, or the U.S., Canada and so on, the impact could be significant if they want to continue dealing with UK.
