Financial Firms Watch E.U.-U.K. Negotiations and Prepare for a “Hard Brexit”

The U.K. government has signaled it is prepared to exit the European Union in March 2019 without completing negotiations and obtaining a formal agreement with the European Union, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.K. government published advice to British firms on how they should prepare for an abrupt exit with the EU, which could cause serious economic disruption, media reports say. The Financial Times reported that asset management firms in the U.K. are preparing for a hard Brexit. Citing a survey by Liquidnet, the FT reported that 83 percent of firms polled say they have response plans for Brexit and 49 percent say their plan has already been put into action. The FT reported that a third of more than 40 asset managers it contacted in June shared plans to increase their presence in or move parts of their operations to Dublin or Luxembourg. However, the Liquidnet survey said 87 percent of firms it surveyed plan to keep their trading desks in place for the time being.