Out-Law News 1 min. read

BREXIT: Lord Hill quits role as EU commissioner as Latvian assumes responsibility for EU financial services policy


The EU commissioner for the UK has resigned from the role after the country voted to leave the trading bloc.

This is part of Out-Law's series of news and insights from Pinsent Masons experts on the impact of the UK's EU referendum. Watch our video on the issues facing businesses and sign up to receive our 'What next?' checklist.

Jonathan Hill is the EU commissioner responsible for financial stability, financial services and the capital market union. He submitted his resignation over the weekend.

Lord Hill said that "the right thing to do" was him to stand down from the role and as the UK's EU commissioner in light of the result of Thursday's referendum, where the public voted for the UK to exit the EU, according to a report by the BBC.

European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker said: "At the beginning of this Commission's mandate, I wanted the British commissioner to be in charge of financial services, as a sign of my confidence in the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. To my great regret, this situation is now changing. I have tried to convince Lord Hill to stay on as commissioner. I consider him to be a true European and not just the British commissioner. However, I understand his decision and I respect it."

Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis will lead the European Commission portfolio of work on financial stability, financial services and the capital market union after Lord Hill's resignation takes effect at midnight on 15 July, the Commission said.

Lord Hill said that the UK's financial services rules will remain influenced by EU regulations under any new equivalence framework that is likely to be negotiated between the UK and its EU trading partners, according to a Financial Times report. He said, though, that without a "British voice" to influence the wording of EU rules, companies should expect "the nature of the rules" to "shift".

The Commission said that the EU Treaties envisage each EU country having a commissioner and that Juncker "stands ready to discuss swiftly with the British prime minister potential names for a commissioner of UK nationality as well as the allocation of a possible portfolio".

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