IG Group released a  Brexit  Brexit Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades. The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter.  While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal.  Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time.  Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with Europe While the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021. Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy.  For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades. The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter.  While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal.  Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time.  Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with Europe While the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021. Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy.  For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Read this Term update today for its European Economic Area (EEA) clients and asked them to transfer their accounts to IG Europe as the broker recently announced that its UK entity will no longer service clients from the EEA region due to Brexit.

According to the official announcement, the company stated that the process of transfer requires identity verification of clients before 8 January 2021. The broker mentioned that in case of failure of transfer or identity verification, the account will be closed.

IG further mentioned that the current open positions on the accounts will be closed as part of the transfer process. The company will re-open trades under IG Europe. The financial firm ensured that the running profit/loss of clients will not be affected.

“To complete the transfer process, you’ll also need to verify your identity before 8 January 2021. Simply log in to your My IG and follow the prompts to follow the verification process. Video verification can be done on any day of the week between 8 am and midnight (UK time). Make sure that you have your passport on hand, and you’ll be done in just a few minutes. Verification can take up to 24 hours to be processed, so please get started before 8 January 2021. If you don’t verify your identity in time, we won’t be able to transfer your account(s) to IG Europe and we may need to close them," the official announcement states.

Brexit Transition

Finance Magnates reported in December that IG Group’s UK entity stopped servicing EEA clients due to Brexit issues. IG is not the only broker facing Brexit problems, several retail FX brokers established entities in Europe to protect EEA clients. Interactive Brokers recently opened its Irish office to serve as a base for the Western European region in response to Brexit. IG Group posted strong financial results in 2020 as revenue and the number of active clients increased significantly.