Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 

08 December 2015

City AM: Former Prudential Europe boss: There's no way we'll leave the EU - A Brexit means it would take 15 years to "disentangle" our deals


A vote for Brexit could be a vote for 15 years of commercial red tape, as the UK struggles to untangle itself from countless agreements dependent on EU membership, according to a leading financial services figure.

[...] Mark Wood, former boss of Prudential Europe, revealed that he thought a vote to leave was clearly unlikely, adding: “If we were to come out, of course, we’d still be staying in because we can’t come out. It would take 15 years to disentangle.”

Wood told City A.M. after the event: “If we were to decide to exit from the free market in the autumn of 2016, the reality is that the pace at which we detached ourselves would be dictated by innumerable contractual relationships which currently exist between companies across borders.”

He added: “Commerce, rather than politics, will dictate the pace at which we exit the EU.”

Also at the EY event, Richard Buxton, chief executive and head of UK equities at Old Mutual Global Investors, agreed with Wood that an exit from the EU was unlikely, remarking: “There’s absolutely no way that the UK is leaving Europe.” [...]

Full article on City AM



© City A.M.


< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information



Add new comment