The Financial Conduct Authority has reached a memorandum of understanding with Australian regulators on the treatment of alternative investment products after Brexit.
The regulator announced this morning it had reached an agreement with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission to cover trade repositories and alternative investments.
Trade repositories are institutions that retain the records of derivative trades, while alternative investments cover anything that isn’t a direct investment in listed securities.
Andrew Bailey, the FCA's chief executive, said: "The FCA and Asic have always had a strong relationship, which will continue after Brexit. The MoUs we have agreed today will ensure the FCA and Asic have uninterrupted exchange of information and can supervise cross-border activity of firms.
"They provide a strong signal to the markets that the UK will continue to play an important role after Brexit. The MoUs will also provide much-needed assurance to our regulated stakeholders.
"We also support the continuity of existing equivalence decisions which will minimise disruption for firms in the UK and Australia."
A statement from the regulator added that it supported the continuation of existing arrangements in other areas of regulating where equivalence, that is, each country recognising the others regulatory standards, already exists.
david.thorpe@ft.com
