It recently occurred to us that most of our summer interns were not born until after the founding of the European Union. While they did not experience the inception, they can now say they were in DC during the summer of Brexit, when Great Britain voted to leave the EU.
As the world is still reeling in light of this decision and trying to figure out what the implications will be, we are keeping a close eye on the London Market. Our priority is determining what Brexit means for the insurance industry, for our member firms who are based in the UK and for those who do business internationally.
The UK has many decisions to make in the next two years. Of the laws and regulations that are currently uniform across the EU – what stays and what changes?
One example is data privacy and laws that govern how companies manage their data. Last year the EU created the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is expected to be the common standard for data privacy laws across the EU. Will the UK adopt the GDPR standard, or create its own standard? The Information Commissioner’s Office has said the UK will continue to use the GDPR, or an equivalent system, but time will tell. Similar questions have been raised about insurer and bank solvency regulations that are created by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
Brexit will create challenges but with those could also come opportunities for the US to collaborate with the UK to create more complimentary standards.
As the people in Britain celebrate or bemoan their new independence, we hope everyone here in the United States has a very safe and enjoyable Independence Day weekend!