On the 12th of March, the Israel Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) hosted a seminar in cooperation with the Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration (IASEI) as well as Tel Aviv University. The seminar was held by Professor David Howarth of the University of Luxemburg. The subject of the seminar was “Brexit and the Battle for Financial Services”.
Around 50 interested listeners followed the invitation. After greetings by Dr. Tal Sadeh, Boardmember of the Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration (IASEI) and the the Director of the Israel Office of FES, Hermann Bünz, Prof. Howarth held a lecture on the topic. He explained how the United Kingdom is currently essential for the entire financial services industry in the EU since London is the center of the financial infrastructure in Europe. In order to keep the financial services centered in London there are strong lobby groups that prefer to keep EU rules and regulations in the UK. On the other hand it currently seems like the government of Prime Minister Theresa May (and also many governments in the EU) are favoring a “hard Brexit”, which would have major implications on the financial sector.
The introductory lecture by Prof. Howarth was followed by a lively discussion about the implications of the Brexit for the financial services industry in Europe. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Tal Sadeh.
