When the UK leaves the EU on 31 January 2020 the UK will have its own trade policy for the first time in decades. Given financial and related professional services exports generate the largest trade surplus of any UK industry - USD110.6 billion in 2018 ? the UK's policy concerning trade in financial services will be a matter of vital national interest. So too will be the deals and other arrangements that the UK puts in place with key target markets for UK Finance members. 

Not only will the UK have to negotiate new trading and market access arrangements with the EU, but the government will also have to decide on priorities concerning trade with the rest of the world. For many important markets where the EU already has a free trade agreement (FTA), the UK is  seeking to 'step into the shoes of the EU? in temporary replicas of agreements, pending the UK and these countries negotiating new deals.  

For the rest, including key markets like the USA and China, the UK will need to negotiate entirely new arrangements. It will also have to decide whether to seek to join other regional trade blocs (there had been talk of joining the Pacific Rim's CPTPP) and how to re-engage as a full member of the WTO in the multilateral trade system. And all these processes will be interdependent, both as to content and timing. There will also be scope for unconventional, creative arrangements that enable our members to do business more easily with customers, clients and counterparties in other countries, e.g. using their UK businesses/hubs to service such business abroad. 

UK Finance is working with our members, other industry groups and the UK government as we develop our thinking around future trade policy concerning financial services. We already work through TheCityUK and with the City of London and we shall leverage these relationships to advance our members? interests. 

As part of developing this work, our Director of International Affairs, Angus Canvin, has been appointed to HM Treasury's Financial Services Expert Trade Advisory Group.