A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets.
This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world. A firm that advises at the forefront of the forces changing the current of global business and that is unrivalled in its global strength.
Our clients benefit from the collective experience of teams who work with many of the world’s most influential companies and institutions, and have a history of precedent-setting innovations.
Together our lawyers advise more than a third of NYSE-listed businesses, a fifth of the NASDAQ and a notable proportion of the London Stock Exchange, the Euronext, Euronext Paris and the Tokyo and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.
Since the UK voted to leave the EU on 23 June 2016, there has
been much speculation about the form of the future access
arrangements between the UK and the EU for financial institutions.
In a scenario where no new deal is done, an equivalence framework
would come into play, which has been established for institutions
that are in the investment business, reinsurance, fund management
and market infrastructure sectors. Firms established outside the EU
can have access to European investors and markets. Equivalence
regimes also assist for prospectuses, accounting standards and
capital rules. Many UK institutions may find they are able to
continue to access EU markets under the EU equivalence
framework.
In this client note, we consider the position of UK institutions
that wish to do cross-border business under equivalence regimes
established by proposed and recently published European
legislation, if the UK were to exit the EU fully.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.