In a process that began in December 2020 with a Joint Declaration on Financial Services Regulatory Cooperation, on 27 June 2023 the UK and the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a framework for financial services regulatory cooperation between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the MoU”).

The MoU sets out four objectives:

1. an exchange of views and analysis on regulatory developments and other issues of common interest;
2. transparency and dialogue on the process of adoption, suspension and withdrawal of equivalence decisions (whereby the EU acknowledges third-country legislation as equivalent);
3. an exchange of views and analysis on market developments and financial stability issues; and
4. enhanced cooperation and coordination.

While it also establishes the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum to serve as a platform for cooperation and undertake forward planning, that Forum will not take any regulatory, supervisory or legal decisions nor will it make any equivalence determinations. The MoU establishes a venue and a framework to come together for an exchange of views, and not a decision-making body that can create rights or obligations under international or domestic law.