View source for Brexit and the Rest of the World

Preparing for Brexit for organisations based in the U.K. is already underway, but for organisations based in Europe or the rest of the world, a plan to capitalise on the Brexit opportunities as they arise are still being formulated.

==The Opportunity==

Britain has many advantages geographically:

* An English speaking bridge between US and India, with an overlapping time zone

* An English speaking bridge between the US and Europe. Britain remains geographically close to Europe and makes a great landing spot for transatlantic communications and transport.

* Deep sea ports - Britain boasts many deep sea ports.

* Educated, can-do workforce

As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, a G8 country will suddenly be free to develop its own laws and its own direction. This economic change will be bigger than the repatriation of Hong Kong and in fact probably the last major change of this size would have been the formation of the EU.

UK law will move more swiftly as it is unencumbered with EU vetoes and agreements across 27 nations.

==What Needs to be Done?==

It is likely that in the changeover and due to agreements with the EU on leaving, there are likely to be clauses to prevent companies "jumping on the bandwagon". These clauses would try to distinguish between long-established UK companies and companies moving purely to take advantage of advantageous legal and financial frameworks. It is difficult to predict the exact nature of these criteria, but we can guess at their rough nature:

* Company incorporated before 1/1/20xx
* Company headquarters or other significant address within UK, registered prior to 1/1/20xx
* At least n% of workforce in U.K. are UK nationals
* UK turnover in excess of £x,000 for last n years
* UK tax paid over £x for last n years
* Industry specific licences obtained in U.K. prior to 1/1/20xx
* A combination of these or other factors 

So to take part in the opportunities, if you have now holding currently, gaining a "toehold" in the U.K. now would be a worthwhile risk.

In order that the criteria are met, organisations without a U.K. presence should consider transferring a small but sufficiently significant portion of the business to the U.K.