January 2015

The Agency for the Co-operation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has published a document on the requirements for the registration of registered reporting mechanisms (RRM) under the Regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency.

The document describes the requirements for the reporting of trade and fundamental data, the registration process of reporting parties and how ACER will assess that the RRM requirements are fulfilled. The document also provides an overview of the relevant legal framework and Annex I contains a guide to RRM registration from ACER.

On 17 December 2014, the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached agreement on the draft Regulation capping interchange fees for card based payments. A press release has now been published stating that the Permanent Representatives Committee has approved, on behalf of the Council of the EU, the agreed compromise text of the draft Regulation.

The draft Regulation now has to be formally approved by the European Parliament, so as to allow final adoption by the Council once the text has been revised in all launguages.

There has been published on the legislation.gov.uk website the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Banking Reform) (Pensions) Regulations 2015 together with a draft explanatory memorandum.

The draft Regulations are made under Part 9B of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which provides for the ring-fencing of core banking activities. Certain banks carrying on core banking activities will be required to be ring-fenced. These ring-fenced bodies will be subject to requirements intended to ensure that they are capable of carrying on the business of providing the core services related to the acceptance of deposits independently of other members in their group. The draft Regulations impose requirements in relation to the pension liabilities of ring-fenced bodies.

The Basel Committee of the Bank for International Settlements, a group of the world’s banking regulators, develops international banking standards.  The Basel  Committee again is considering revising the current international risk-based capital requirements.

Kathleen A. Scott wrote a recent column in the New York Law Journal that discusses the Basel Committee review process and the…

The FCA has published a Q&A document which is designed to give information to alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) who may encounter problems when attempting to view AIF002 Fund Transparency Report schedules on GABRIEL. Appendix 1 of the Q&A contains GABRIEL screen shots to further help AIFMs in using the GABRIEL system.

In November 2010, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) recommended that all FSB jurisdictions should put in place a policy framework to reduce the risks and externalities associated with global and domestic systemically important financial institutions in their jurisdictions.  The FSB recommended five components for the framework:

  • a higher loss absorbency capacity to reflect the greater risks that these institutions pose to the global or domestic financial system;
  • more intensive supervisory oversight;
  • a robust core financial market infrastructure to reduce contagion risk a failure;
  • a resolution framework and other measures to ensure that all financial institutions can be resolved safely, quickly and without destabilising the financial system or exposing taxpayers to the risk of loss; and
  • supplementary prudential and other requirements.

(https://www.financialstabilityboard.org/2010/11/r_101111a/)

 How far has Canada come in implementing those recommendations?  It appears that Canada has made good progress.  Of course, as is typical with respect to financial services regulation in Canada, not all of the measures are transparent.  Summarized below are some of the key accomplishments thus far.