Sam Woods isn't going to have time to ease into his new job.

Woods begins a five-year term atop the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) on Friday as the U.K.'s main bank regulator tries to steer the European Union's largest financial hub through the turmoil loosed by Britain's decision to quit the bloc. The central bank is in crisis-fighting mode, unleashing emergency liquidity to ensure lenders have access to cheap funds.

Yet for now, Woods won't have much latitude or incentive to alter the rules for banks, with the U.K. in political disarray and years of negotiations still to come on the country's future relationship with the EU. As Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday, "nothing in financial regulation has changed as a result of last week's referendum," and won't until secession is complete.