The UK's financial watchdog has warned consumers to be on the look-out for scams as fraudsters take advantage of confusion stemming from Brexit.
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday that it is expecting more scams "during this period of uncertainty", and warned consumers not to give over their personal bank details in phone calls or emails purportedly from their lender.
The warning was part of an FCA update to consumers over how they will be affected by Brexit. UK banking customers should be largely unaffected because retail operations – even of European lenders –have their own subsidiaries in the UK that have local capital, liquidity and senior managers, all overseen by UK regulators.
However, the FCA warned UK expats in the rest of the EU that they may suffer disruption of their services if they bank with a UK lender.
“EEA citizens, and UK citizens living in the EEA, could be affected if their UK provider cannot operate in the EEA after Brexit,” the FCA notice reads.
“Many UK providers are planning to continue providing you services. We expect them to contact you if you need to make any changes.”
Inbound firms
The FCA has previously said that inbound European firms will be able to continue on their current regulatory permissions for a period of three years after Brexit.
The regulator added that it is planning to extend the ombudsman service and the UK’s deposit-guarantee scheme to EEA firms in this temporary period. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018
