Mr. Gerry Cross:

The concept of equivalence has been developed and operated in a particular context. It takes different forms and is not a coherent cross-cutting concept. One will find a piece of European legislation and an article will lay out what will happen if there is a decision on equivalence. It is sporadic and not ideal. It has been developed for third country jurisdictions that are distant from Europe. It is a process which can be lengthy and complicated, but it can also be reversed quite quickly for political reasons. It is, however, a difficult concept. The future of equivalence might be discussed during the negotiations as part of the political discussions in the context of the United Kingdom being outside the European Union but next to it with a very large financial services presence. The discussion will be about enhanced equivalence and how it might become a more significant tool. I am speculating, but it is one of the lines of discussion. There may be other discussions about different concepts of equivalence, but, as it stands, the concept was not developed with this type of situation in mind.