By Jacqueline Cook, Senior Knowledge Development Lawyer

The uneasy rumblings in the media recently on whether the UK would be welcomed back by the European Union (EU) into the Lugano Convention family were confirmed on 4 May 2021, when the European Commission issued its 'Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council'[1] with its assessment on the application of the UK to accede to the 2007 Lugano Convention on the jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments (Lugano Convention). It recommended that the EU should not give its consent to UK accession. This communication has been met with disappointment by the legal profession[2] and characterised by the media as a political decision, rather than one based on common sense. However, there is room for hope — this is not quite the last chapter in the saga of the EU/UK relationship in the area of choice of court agreements, jurisdiction and judgments.

By Amanda Montano and Humzah Irfan

Jacqueline Cook, Senior Knowledge Development Lawyer at Sullivan's London office, broke ground on our first Trade & Export Finance Webinar of 2021, held on 21 January, and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) for the post-Brexit position was top of the agenda. London's Senior Partner, Geoffrey Wynne, followed with thoughts on what the trade finance industry should be looking out for in 2021.

By Jacqueline Cook, Senior Knowledge Development Lawyer

In a flurry of last-minute negotiations, the EU and the UK agreed on the form of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU, European Atomic Energy Community and the UK on 24 December 2020 ("TCA") to bring about the "Brexit deal" on their future relationship. As timing was extremely tight, with the end of the Brexit transition period looming a week later¹, ambassadors for each EU member state approved the TCA in principle, so it passed through EU Parliament unopposed. It was then signed by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission for the EU.

By trainee Humzah Irfan at Sullivan in London

Sam Fowler-Holmes restarted Sullivan's Breakfast Seminar, this time at lunchtime! On the day England moved into a second national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam provided an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the trade finance sector. The presentation discussed issues from the progress in digitalisation in the trade finance market to Brexit and LIBOR.

Sullivan Monthly Breakfast Seminar, 23 January 2020

At Sullivan's January 2020 London Breakfast Briefing, Sam Fowler-Holmes provided an overview of key challenges facing the trade finance sector in 2020. From sanctions to LIBOR, with a hint of Brexit, Sam covered a broad range of topical issues.

By Hannah Fearn

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 2019 BAFT Europe Bank to Bank Forum in London. The well-attended event included many highly informative panel talks covering a range of topics, but with a particular focus on the future of trade finance.

Highlights included a discussion on the challenges facing the digitisation of trade (including legal and regulatory hurdles) and insights into how banks manage liquidity in the era of instant payments. BAFT took advantage of technology to make the sessions as interactive as possible, with delegates able to use their phones to participate in live polls and Q&As.