Asia House Brexit Series: Implications for business

In the fourth event in the Asia House Brexit Series, Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union Law, University of Cambridge, will explain the legal procedures behind triggering Article 50. This will be followed by a panel discussion with experts from KPMG, HSBC and Linklaters.

The announcement that Japanese corporation SoftBank Group will be taking over the UK’s largest technology company ARM Holdings, was hailed by the UK government as a clear sign that confidence in British business has not wavered on the global stage and that post-Brexit Britain would not fail in attracting investment.

However, a recent IMF report cuts UK growth forecasts following the Brexit vote, a slowdown attributed to the increased political and economic uncertainty following the referendum and a decline in business investment, particularly from overseas.

What does leaving the EU mean for businesses? Political stability has returned with the announcement of a new Cabinet, but how will this affect businesses operating multinationally? What are the potential considerations and legal implications?

The Asia House Brexit Series is monitoring developments following the EU referendum with a focus on both the UK’s and the EU’s relationship with Asia both economically and politically.

Agenda

08.00-08.30 registration, coffee, tea and networking

08.30-08.35 welcome remarks, Michael Lawrence, Chief Executive, Asia House

08.35-08.50 legal process of Brexit, Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union Law, University of Cambridge

08.50-09.55 A discussion on the implications for business with Ian Hunter, Partner, Linklaters, David Sayer, Senior Partner & Member of the Board, KPMG UK LLP, and Simon Wells, Chief UK Economist, HSBC, moderated by Michael Lawrence

09.55-10.00 closing remarks by Michael Lawrence, Chief Executive, Asia House

Attendance at this event is by invitation only. For more details please contact melanie.ullrich@asiahouse.co.uk

Catherine Barnard, Professor in European Union Law and Employment Law, University of Cambridge

Catherine Barnard specialises in EU law and employment law. She is author of EU Employment Law (OUP, 2016), The Substantive Law of the EU: The Four Freedoms, (OUP, 2013), and (with Peers ed), European Union Law (OUP, 2014). She is also editor of various collections of essays including: The Fundamentals of EU Law Revisited (Oxford, 2007), The Outer Limits of EU Law (Hart, 2009) (with Odudu). She has advised the government over the Balance of Competence Review. She has become a Senior Fellow in the ESRC’s UK in a Changing Europe project where she will be working with Dr Amy Ludlow on a project entitled: ‘ “Honeypot Britain?” The Lived experience of working as an EU migrant in the UK’ where she will be looking particularly at the question of migrant workers’ access to benefits in the UK.

 Ian Hunter, Partner, Linklaters

Ian is a corporate partner based in our London office, and advises on public and private M&A, joint ventures and equity capital markets transactions. Ian also has expertise in a number of specialist areas, including listed company corporate governance, FTSE indexation and complex corporate reorganisations.

David Sayer, Senior Partner & Member of the Board, KPMG UK LLP

David  has had 26 years of experience as an adviser and practitioner. A key element of his role is to have regular discussions with major Banks around the world which give a perspective on the different strategies being adopted in a very challenging environment. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant he joined Lloyds Bank on a Senior Executive Development program. This took him through branch management to roles including Marketing, Strategy, Director of Money Transmission and Chief Manager Scotland. He was a Commercial Banking manager, led the Banks strategy team for commercial banking and led the response on many major tenders for Money transmission. For the last 18 years he has been a partner leading teams advising Banks on major transformation programmes. He is member of the KPMG Board in the UK.

Simon Wells, Chief UK Economist, HSBC

Before joining HSBC as Chief UK economist in December 2011, Simon worked as an economist and senior manager at the Bank of England. Over a twelve-year period, he held a number of roles in the Monetary Policy, Financial Stability and Markets areas of the Bank. For several years he was responsible for briefing the Monetary Policy Committee on financial market developments, although immediately before joining HSBC he headed the team analysing the outlook for UK demand and output. Simon also worked for two years at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, heading a team in the Macroeconomic Surveillance Department.