Financial services in a changing Europe: Brexit and financial centres across the UK

This Fellowship aims to provide impartial evidence and analysis of the implications of Britain's changing relationship with the EU for the financial services sector across the UK. Financial and related professional services form a vital part of the UK's economy. This significance is underpinned by a series of economic, political and socio-cultural relations that shape the trading relationship in financial and professional services between the UK and the EU. In particular, the current size and shape of the UK's financial and related professional services sector is shaped by the UK's current adoption of EU regulations. The most significant of these is passporting which allows a firm authorised to undertake financial activities by the regulator one EU member state to undertake that business in other member states without requiring further authorisations. London's financial district has utilised these passporting rights to act as the financial hub for the EU.

However, the future nature of this relationship is unknown as Britain's relationship with Europe changes. The UK has to decide whether to converge, seek equivalence with or diverge from EU regulations for financial services. Moreover, changes in immigration policy affecting EU nationals will also impact the financial services sector because of its reliance on international migrants in the UK.

In response, this Fellowship aims to provide impartial evidence and analysis of the implications of Britain's changing relationship with the EU for the financial services sector across the UK. The Fellowship will combine desk based data analysis of secondary reports, policy documents and official data with in depth qualitative research in four financial centres across the UK (Edinburgh, Nottingham, Belfast and London). The Fellowship aims to: (1) synthesise understandings of the UK's existing trading relationship with the EU in financial and related professional services; (2) chart the implications of the UK's departure from the EU in real time for the UK's trading relationship with the EU in Financial and related professional services and (3) transfer and disseminate knowledge, analysis and understanding to a range of stakeholders within the UK and Europe including politicians, journalists, civil servants, local policy makers, businesses, civil society and the UK public.

The Fellowship will involve working closely with a range of stakeholders from the financial and related professional services sector as well as members of the UK in a Changing Europe research team. This includes The CityUK, The City of London Corporation, Invest in Nottingham, The Midlands Engine, Innovate Finance, Capital One and Experian. Outcomes will be shared and discussed with policymakers, practitioners, journalists and civil servants through: a state of the art report on 'Financial relations between the UK and the EU, regular blog and social media reports, Breakfast briefings with the financial services sector across the UK and a Brexit Tracker to chart in real time the implications of the UK's changing relationship with the EU for financial and related professional services. Findings will also be shared with interdisciplinary academic audiences in human geography, sociology, international political economy and British politics through a series of peer reviewed academic papers.

The financial services and professional services sector contributes significantly to the UK's economic growth but does so in regionally unequal ways, with growth and employment concentrated in London and the South East. Moreover the sector's contemporary development has been shaped by the UK current regulatory relationship with the EU. As this trading relationship between the UK and the EU changes, the implications for the financial services sector and regional development and inequality currently remain largely unknown. The Fellowship's findings are therefore likely to be of significant interest to a number of stakeholder including policy makers, civil servants journalists, non-governmental organisations and members of the public:

1. Government policy makers at the national level (e.g. the City of London Corporation, HM Treasury, the Bank of England) who will benefit from a better understanding of how the UK's financial services sector is shaped by current trading and regulatory relations with the EU and the possible implications of different changes to these;

2. Regional and local policy makers (e.g. Invest in Nottingham, the Scottish Parliament) who will benefit from a dedicated focus on the regional and local implications of the UK's changing relationship with the EU for financial services and uneven economic development more generally.

3. Economic and political journalists who will be able to access research and analysis of the impacts of changes to the financial services sector across the UK as the UK renegotiates its relationship with the EU

4. Non-governmental organisations (e.g. Innovate Finance) who will benefit from analysis of the opportunities to develop new types of financial markets e.g. in Fin tech in new regulatory arrangements between the UK and the EU

5. Broader publics, particularly younger generations who will benefit by an enhanced understanding of how social science can help us to understand the regional and local implications of the UK's changing relationship with the EU from the standpoint of the geo-politically and economic important financial services sector.

To achieve these impacts, research users will be involved in the Fellowship throughout and information from key stakeholders has informed the preparation of this proposal. Regular opportunities for stakeholders to input into future fellowship activities have been built into the Fellowship including breakfast briefings across the UK and a stakeholder panel making up a Brexit tracker. Members of this tracker will also act as ambassadors for the project, publicising the Fellowship within their own sectors with the aim of maximising the uptake of Fellowship analysis and findings.