London and Brussels have been urged to strike a Brexit transition deal by one of Europe’s top financial lobby groups amid warnings banks will be unprepared for the UK’s secession from the EU. The two-year deadline for the UK to negotiate the terms of its departure from the EU is not long enough for banks, investors and financial regulators to prepare for the new rules that will come into force following Brexit, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has cautioned. The influential group has called on politicians in Britain and the EU to quickly agree on an extra transition period to ensure financial markets are not plunged into turmoil by an abrupt departure. It comes just a week after Theresa May triggered Article 50, the mechanism by which a country secedes from the EU that imposes a two-year timetable for exit terms to be agreed. “Affected market participants and supervisors will clearly need more time to prepare effectively for Brexit than the two years provided for by the Article 50 process,” AFME warned in a 40-page report. “Overall it can be argued that banks will require a three-year implementation period following the completion of the Article 50-exit negotiations.”
the European Union in Europe has called for a transition deal between the UK and The Association for Financial Markets, saying investors and banks would "need more time to prepare" than the allotted two-year negotiation period. The organisation called for “a bridging period" to avoid short-term disruption to the finance industry and allow time for a new trade relationship between the UK and The Association for Financial Markets to be ratified.