Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom

Etiqueta: Trade

Brexit Seminar: Trade & Employment Implications for Businesses

On Wednesday 7th December, we had the pleasure of holding the breakfast seminar “Brexit: Trade & Employment Implications for Businesses”, organised in collaboration with our Patron SCA Ontier, who hosted the event, and our member Blick Rothenberg.

With Brexit as the key point, this session’s aim was to explore the potential challenges and opportunities in the context of trade and employment in the post-exit landscape, including briefly looking at the key models used by other non-EU countries and practical considerations.

On this occasion, our Head of Accounts & Member Relations, Tom Newman, gave a warm welcome to the attendees on behalf of the Chamber and introduced Ms. Danielle Carr, Senior Associate at SCA ONTIER, Mr. Derek Stinson, Senior Associate at SCA and Mr. Mark Abbs, Partner at Blick Rothenberg.

The event was hosted at the premises of our Patron SCA ONTIER.

To kick off, Ms. Carr explained the current situation of the UK after Brexit vote. She developed the idea of what Brexit means for businesses and individuals, and how it will gradually be applied. She also described what the Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty means, a hot topic these days, and what this implies for the Government and Parliament.

After Danielle’s explanation, Mr. Stinson analysed the current trade situation between the EU and UK, and how it will be affected by Brexit. Then both of them explained different trade relations between EU non-member countries with the EU and hypothesized about which example would be the best for the future UK-EU relationship. Both of them finalised their intervention giving the attendees some tips about how to prepare themselves and their business for different EU-UK relation scenarios.

Experts from SCA ONTIER and Blick Rothenberg helped the attendees understand the future business scenario.

After this presentation, Mr. Abbs from Blick Rothenberg took over. He talked about the internal and external factors that are shaping the current situation of the country and its short-term future . To continue with his evaluation, he focused on potential risks and opportunities for employers and workers.

This led to a conversation on what will happen next regarding immigration policies and tax payments for European citizens working in the UK. The participants were very interested in possible changes about their citizenship/passport issues and freedom of movement between EU countries and the UK.

To conclude the seminar, a Q&A round was performed in order for participants to expose their doubts and questions to the three experts. An interesting debate about different possibilities on how Brexit will be applied and what it will mean in different aspects for corporates and individuals, with a special focus on foreign citizens working in the UK.

Attendees had the opportunity to network over a great breakfast.

Before the seminar was over, participants were invited to enjoy breakfast, whilst given the opportunity to discuss the session’s ideas and concepts further with the speakers.

We are grateful to our member Blick Rothenberg and SCA ONTIER, Patron of the Chamber and kind host of this session, for delivering such a dynamic and engaging session. We would like to thank all attendees who joined us and remind them that on Thursday 23^rd February we will be organising another seminar on Brexit with SCA ONTIER, this time focused on Taxes.

If you want to find out about other activities organised by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, we encourage you to keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website. In addition to this, you can also subscribe to our weekly newsletter in order to receive updates and information about our events.

13/12/2016
BREAKFAST SEMINAR: NAVIGATING BREXIT UNCERTAINTY

Following the British referendum vote last June, and the subsequent events that international businesses operating in London have been faced with, on Friday 14^th October we hosted a breakfast seminar on “Navigating Brexit Uncertainty: Key Questions for Business Leaders” which was organised in collaboration with our member Wilson Perumal & Company .

To start off the session, Mr. Igor Urra, Secretary General of the Spanish Chamber, warmly welcomed attendees and introduced Ms. Isabel Fernández, Manager, and Mr. Thom Hamnett, Case Team Leader, from Wilson Perumal, who would be taking participants through the different implications and potential scenarios for businesses in the wake of the referendum.

Mr. Igor Urra introducing the speakers: Ms. Isabel Fernández and Mr. Thom Hamnett.

Isabel began the session introducing the context of the Brexit and describing some ‘no-regret’ activities that businesses can undertake to get ahead of the competition. She continued explaining some of the short-term impacts on the UK economy since the Brexit vote such as the currency impact, the delay in investments and an evident decline in employment levels.

In the medium term, the challenge will focus on negotiations, which would add a new level of complexity as the country will have to define a new relationship with the EU as well as new trade agreements with the rest of the countries.

After that, Isabel gave the floor to her colleague Tom Hamnett, who talked about six possible scenarios in regard with UK’s future trade relationship with the EU. He also added that any possible scenario will have a great impact on the UK businesses.

The session provided a platform to analyse potential scenarios after Brexit.

Isabel continued explaining the concept of “Dynamic Scenario Planning”, which is the hypothetical situation where companies imagine their future. They should build their own “plan B” to face Brexit setting their objectives and developing their own action´s plans.

To conclude the seminar Isabel and Tom explained the importance of taking a step back and read between the lines in order to maintain some scenarios that will put the companies on the front foot for the chances to come.

As it could not have been otherwise, the topic in question paved the way for an engaging and lively Q&A session where attendees took the opportunity to analyse in more detail the different scenarios discussed by the speakers and ponder what each of them might imply for their businesses in particular. After the round of questions, participants could resume their conversation over coffee and pastries and engage in further networking.

Attendees shared their thoughts and exchanged opinions over breakfast.

We would like to thank again Isabel Fernández and Tom Hamnett from Wilson Perumal & Company for sharing such insightful and valuable information with the participants who attended this session. We hope the event help shed some light on the implications of Brexit for different business sectors.

If you could not join us on this occasion and would like to be updated on future activities, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter or visit the UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website.

28/10/2016
What can the Chamber do for you?

Dear Member,

It is quite likely you have asked yourself this question in the early stages or your membership or prior to joining our institution. Maybe even after becoming a member.

For some of you it may have been clear from the beginning: having access to a highly varied network of both British and Spanish businesses from a wide range of professional sectors. Others may favour the institutional visibility provided by the status of becoming a Patron of our institution, while some others may have decided to join simply because they want to be part of the big family that the Chamber has become since its foundation back in 1886. Needless to say it has grown to have quite a lot relatives over the years.

Whatever your reason for joining, members expect to make the most of their membership, which honestly is fair enough. So with this in mind, we would like to remind you that at the Spanish Chamber there is always something for everyone according to their specific needs.

So what’s in it for members in terms of …

Events and Networking

We may be a small team, but we try not to let this hold us back from planning an ever growing calendar of events with a wide range of formats, and with over 50 activities per year each member can find the right one for them.

In addition to our own activities, we collaborate with other institutions and foreign Chambers from time to time in order to increase the events on offer for our associates, allowing them to have access to an even bigger professional network.

We also offer companies the possibility to increase their brand awareness by sponsoring some of our activities, and to organise events in collaboration with us – and so it is in this capacity that we encourage partners to get in contact with us should they wish to explore scope for working together on an event. Our Events and Communication team will be happy to assist and help you choose the right format for your specific needs.

If you have never attended our events or do so very rarely, we strongly recommend that you try to take part in them – if for nothing else than to meet new members and to catch up with old ones. We are in attendance to all the activities that we organise, so it will be our pleasure to welcome you whether it is the first time you attend them or not.

Although they all followed the instructors’ explanations very carefully, none were able to figure out when the «drinks bit» actually started

Trade and Commercial Services

The Chamber does not live on networking events only, and so if you are looking to explore new business opportunities and seek to approach potential new clients or professional partners, our Foreign Trade Department has the right tools to assess specific commercial strategies suitable to your company.

From individual commercial agendas to multi -sector trade missions, the department covers different scenarios to ensure each business can find the adequate means to explore possible avenues of collaboration in the British or Spanish markets, providing guidance and information throughout the process.

Other services

We are always looking to improve the membership experience we offer to our associates and with that in mind we have created different sections on our website to allow members to interact with each other. For instance, did you know we have a dedicated M2M (Members-to-Members) section where associated companies can advertise exclusive offers and promotions for other members? Or that you can promote the activities you organise via our Members’ Events section?

We have also created a Spanish Chamber of Commerce group in LinkedIn so our members can share and exchange information, create discussion groups, or simply network online if you cannot always make it to our events. We know you prefer the real thing but as the saying goes «half a loaf is better than none».

In addition to the above, if you have any questions, suggestions or ideas you would like to share with us, do not hesitate to contact us. We will be more than happy to hear what our members have to say to help us grow and improve as an institution.

And as the big family the Chamber has grown to be, it is just worth remembering that we are also here to give a helping hand. So next time you are in doubt whether we can be of assistance, just let us know.

28/11/2012

Este sitio web utiliza cookies para que usted tenga la mejor experiencia de usuario. Si continúa navegando está dando su consentimiento para la aceptación de las mencionadas cookies y la aceptación de nuestra política de cookies, pinche el enlace para mayor información.plugin cookies

Aviso de cookies