MUFG subsidiary secures investment firm license in the Netherlands

The number of companies opting for EU licenses as a part of their efforts to secure stable services after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union is growing. Today, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co., Ltd., a consolidated subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (TYO:8306), announces that its new indirect subsidiary in Amsterdam, MUFG Securities (Europe) N.V., has been granted a license to operate as an investment firm by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets.

The company sees the license is a major step towards ensuring that MUFG will be in a position to continue to provide securities services to its clients across Europe after Brexit.

Earlier in December, Mizuho Securities Europe GmbH, established in Frankfurt as a subsidiary of Mizuho International plc – the UK business of Mizuho Securities, was granted a MiFID investment services license by Germany’s financial regulator BaFin. The aim of the move was also to secure smooth and uninterrupted continuation of trading activities with clients in case of a hard Brexit.

Other online trading companies have also opted to secure non-UK licenses in order to prepare themselves for all possible consequences of Brexit. Electronic trading major IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG), for instance, has recently confirmed that IG Europe, the Group’s client facing subsidiary in Germany, has received its licence from BaFin. This offers certainty that IG will be able to offer its regulated financial products in all EU member states following the UK’s exit from the EU.

In the meantime, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation paper on plans to introduce a temporary permissions regime (TPR). The temporary permissions regime will allow EEA firms and funds to continue regulated business in the UK, if the UK leaves the EU in March 2019 without an implementation period in place.