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Brexit
Whatever happens, bright future seen for financial services & eGaming
Gibraltar is “better prepared for a hard Brexit on 29 March than Britain”, but largely is “ambivalent” to whatever results from negotiations with the EU, according to the local gaming and financial services sectors, Ray Spencer reports
Brexit panel members (from left) Shaun Cawdery (Reds Sands), Peter Taylor (GFSC), Jon Tricker (KPMG), Elicia Bravo Garcia (Lottoland) and Mark Essex (KPMG UK)
showing growth of 8-10% a year like Gibraltar is. You are going to have to capture more market share, rather than relying on Britain to grow. It’s a matter of what happens to the UK market and where you can best exploit your niche.”
Essex added: “If you are in a position where in any scenario you are resilient from a GDP point of view, that’s a pretty good place to be.”
Isola confirmed there was now “certainty and choice for EU and EEA firms that may be fearful of a hard Brexit, on the basis that they can choose Gibraltar as an alternative to setting up a subsidiary in London. We have already seen interest along these lines, particularly in the insurance sector.
Practical outcomes
“Regardless of the Brexit outcome, Gibraltar and the UK have a continued, guaranteed access and reciprocal single market in financial services
That situation could even give the jurisdiction an opportunity “to advise the UK on how to do more with less” when facing a potentially reduced workforce following immigration controls, Gibraltar business leaders heard at a KPMG ‘Round Table’ event, organised in association with Gibraltar International Magazine.
The Brexit discussion was held in late November at the Sunborn Hotel, so there was at that stage no clear indication of what the outcome would be for the jurisdiction that has formed part of the EU since 1973 through its relationship with the UK.
Given that 92% of financial services passporting business is delivered into the UK,
Gibraltar’s Minister for Commerce, Albert Isola, told a crowded audience: “Of critical importance for Gibraltar and its economy is the fact that we have certainty that all Gibraltar financial services firms engaged in cross-border activity into the UK will continue to be able to passport their services and/or their rights to freedom of establishment into the UK after 29 March on a seamless basis, regardless of whether there is a hard or soft Brexit.”
As Mark Essex, KPMG’s UK director and international ‘go-to’ expert, advising clients on Brexit matters, concluded: “Being very close to a much larger market is obviously very good news for Gibraltar.
“The trouble is – depending on which economic forecast you look at – it [the UK] isn’t
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12 Gibraltar International
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Photo: Stephen Ball, www.sballphotography.com