FCA sees limited impact of a Brexit

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Martin Wheatley has played down fears of a possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU).

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Wheatley said that if a Brexit took place, some firms would move operations to other EU states and some companies would restructure themselves, but that the country's financial sector would feel little immediate effect.

The view contradicts the findings of a report commissioned by the City of London Corporation, which stated that the country would benefit from remaining in the EU and that if a Brexit is avoided, London's financial district will grow its output by more than a third and will employ 10% more people over the next ten years.

Wheatley commented that the UK managed for years to work successfully outside the eurozone, “so it’s not to say that there isn’t a model that can work but it’s a different model,” he added.

Nevertheless, he added that even if the UK left the Union, the country would keep some EU regulatory architecture, and that many key points like the Union's rule on limiting financial sector bonuses to twice an employee's base salary would have “some optionality”.

Read more: CBI urges UK businesses to make themselves heard over 'Brexit'

“There would be some quite significant issues as to whether you could opt of just little bits of [regulations] or would you have to opt out of large bits and credibility starts to suffer.”

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