If the UK adopts a ‘third country’ status when leaving the European Union, financial services firms could secure access to the European markets but without a seat at the negotiating table when future rules and regulations are drafted. John Spellman knows the frustrations that can cause.

As the Isle of Man’s director of financial services, Spellman is tasked with developing the industry on the island, a self-governing Crown dependency that operates under third country equivalence for EU financial legislation.