Less than seven months before the UK leaves the EU, marking a change that will redraw Europe’s financial landscape, it is important that AMAFI can engage with European institutions in a manner commensurate with the challenges faced by its members and the wider Paris financial community. This was the reasoning behind the decision to set up a European Action Committee.

The Eurofi Forum held in Vienna in early September afforded the first opportunity to act on this resolve. AMAFI, represented by Stéphane Giordano and Arnaud Eard, together with members of the new committee, held talks with a number of important figures on the fringes of the public meetings. These figures included Martin Merlin, Director of the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), MEPs Pervenche Berès and Jakob von Weizsäcker, who sit on the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, as well as Zsofia Haraszti and Henrietta Olasz, Financial Services Representatives for Hungary. Discussions centred on four key issues for AMAFI, namely the review of the European Supervisory Authorities (AMAFI / 18-43), financing for small, medium and mid-market businesses (AMAFI / 18-44),, the review of the prudential framework for investment firms (AMAFI / 18-45) and Brexit (AMAFI / 18-46).

Amid persistent uncertainty over how Brexit is going to unfold, and with elections and new appointments ahead for the European institutions, the coming weeks will be devoted to establishing a detailed work programme, aimed in particular at stepping up contact with member states’ permanent representations.