French regulators agree to simplify licensing procedures post-Brexit

Regulators in France have agreed to simplify and speed up the licensing procedures for UK-based insurers that wish to continue to do business in EU countries post- Brexit.

The move has been made by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de resolution (ACPR), the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority, which monitors the activities of banks and insurance companies in France, and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French stock market regulator.

As a result of Brexit, UK insurers which use the passport mechanism to carry out business in EU countries under the ‘freedom to provide services’ or under the right of establishment may be hindered from doing so.

ACPR has suggested that institutions operating under the passport mechanism may decide to establish an insurance company, investment firm, payment institution or an electronic money institution, licensed and supervised by the ACPR to carry out activities that are currently conducted in France through branches or directly from the institution’s home country.

The ACPR and AMF have also suggested that the licensing procedure for existing activities that are already supervised by the competent authority in the home country may be simplified and speeded up.

This will be achieved by using documents already available in English such as forms that have been submitted to the supervisory authorities in the home country and papers concerning a branch whose business will be taken over by the subsidiary firm.