Banca Naţională a României

On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom notified its intention to withdraw from the European Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This means that, in the absence of a UK-EU deal stipulating another date, all Union primary and secondary legislation, including in the field of banking and payment services, will cease to apply to the UK as of 30 March 2019, 00:00h (CET). The UK will since become a third country in relation to any of the EU Member States.

In the absence of an exit deal ratified by 29 March 2019, which should lay down potential transitory provisions, and as long as this deadline is not extended by the European Council, in agreement with the UK, the following deserve mention:

1. As of 30 March 2019, the UK entities providing banking and payment services as well as electronic money issuance services in Romania, either directly or through their branches, will no longer benefit from the single EU passport, in virtue of the authorisation granted by the UK’s competent authority, and will be treated as third-country entities with regard to their possibility to establish branches or to provide services either through agents or directly in Romania, as a EU Member State.

   Consequently, in the absence of an authorisation from the National Bank of Romania, the activity of the branches in Romania of the above-mentioned UK entities and the direct provision of services in Romania by these entities will cease as of 30 March 2019.

2. In this context, we draw the attention of users of services provided by these entities in Romania that they should contact those service providers to see if they have a strategy for avoiding disruptions in the relationship with customers, for ensuring service continuity or terminating the contractual relationships, as appropriate.

*

This press release is in line with the press releases at EU level.

For further details, including those on other business sectors, see the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Central Bank, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank - Preparing for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019: a Contingency Action Plan, available at Contingency Action Plan, as well as the Notice to stakeholders - Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules in the field of banking and payment services, available at Notice to stakeholders.