Both the U.K. and the European Union need to become more “frightened” about the possibility of an abrupt break-up, an analyst told CNBC on Friday.

Fears that Brexit negotiators will not manage to reach an agreement before a legal deadline are growing, with regulators, politicians and market players calling for preparations to be stepped up.

Even British Prime Minister Theresa May told parliamentarians last week that her government would be increasing its efforts to have a backup plan in case there isn’t a Brexit deal when the U.K. leaves the block next March.

Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Giles Keating, managing director at Werthstein Institute, suggested that Brexit talks would get more dramatic, before negotiators understood the full danger of not reaching an agreement.

“I think the only way you get a Brexit deal is for both sides to get really scared about the effect of not having a deal. And that means we have to get more and more frightened and understand how bad it would be — and only then people would come to their senses,” Keating said.