Three and a half years on from the Brexit referendum a decisive layer of uncertainty has been lifted with the landslide win for the Conservative party in the UK elections. Boris Johnson now has an influential mandate with which to ensure the UK formally leaves the EU on 31^st January 2020 and enters a transition period, where the regulatory status quo prevails, until the end of 2020. Sterling surged on the news and EU leaders have expressed relief at the clarity the result brings.

But perhaps this is just the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end, to paraphrase Johnson’s hero, Winston Churchill. The future relationship and trading agreements with the EU will need to be settled. The timeframe to achieve this is short and the path will not be easy. There will continue to be uncertainty on the outcome.

Nevertheless, AIMA welcomes the added clarity that the election result brings to our members’ Brexit planning and we will engage closely with the new UK government on what the future relationship should look like. Our priorities remain ensuring investors can continue to benefit from the widest possible access to global investment management services and that UK firms can continue to attract skilled overseas talent. This should not, however, come at the expense of the UK’s ability to write its own rules or implement international standards.