In the 2018 edition of this publication, we ended the introduction with the line, “We can only hope that we will enter 2019 with greater certainty than 2018 as to how the regulatory landscape will look.” Unfortunately, certainty still remains in rather short supply. With Brexit now (at least in theory) a matter of weeks away, it remains unclear what will happen: the government’s original proposed Withdrawal Agreement has been decisively rejected, but Parliament has indicated that it would support that agreement if the “Irish Backstop” provisions are renegotiated. The Prime Minister has therefore been mandated to return to negotiations on this point, in the face of statements by European Union leaders that there is no prospect of such negotiations going ahead. At the same time, Parliament has signalled that it “rejects” a no-deal Brexit, but not agreed to a proposal which would have made this rejection binding. Further Parliamentary proceedings are now planned for the middle of February. Whether there is a hard, soft or no Brexit, there remain a number of issues beyond Brexit that authorised firms will have to consider in the year ahead. Including Brexit, here are 10 things that authorised firms need to know for 2019.

1. Brexit -

In the absence of a decision of what will happen come the 29 March 2019 (or indeed, come some future date if “exit day” is postponed”), firms have been left in a state of uncertainty. Whilst this makes planning for what will happen even more difficult, it is possible to plot out how certain more likely scenarios would play out...