SSP’s position on Brexit
The decision made by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, or ‘Brexit’ as it has become known, means that like other businesses operating in the UK, SSP must prepare for the changes that this decision might bring. In order to ensure that our business is sustainable, we have put plans in place to ensure the best outcome for our company and our customers as the transition away from EU membership takes place.
We have recently spent time reviewing what Brexit might mean for us and we have worked closely with external advisers and other stakeholders to document our findings in a Brexit readiness assessment. Whilst the assessment highlights a number of specific risks, the overall conclusion is that, despite serving the insurance industry which could be affected by Brexit, SSP is reasonably well positioned based on the nature of the market sectors and geographies in which we operate.
As an example of the types of issue we are preparing for, there is a chance that the UK may not remain part of the EEA. Currently as part of the EEA we are allowed to pass data freely between the UK and Ireland, so we have a plan in place to move our cloud platform to AWS in Dublin. If we are no longer afforded this right after Brexit, we have secondary and tertiary plans in place to mitigate this risk.
As SSP’s business grows and evolves, we are seeing more and more of our new business opportunities in territories that will be unaffected by Brexit; and we expect that trend to continue. This means that our exposure to the volatilities of the UK economy and the potential economic implications post-Brexit may not be felt as strongly by SSP as they would by a business trading solely in the UK or western Europe.
We remain vigilant and prepared for a number of Brexit scenarios, but based on the work already carried we feel optimistic and ready for whichever of the potential Brexit scenarios may be realised.