The House of Commons Treasury Committee has published a letter from Lord Grabiner QC, to Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Treasury Committee, relating to Lord Grabiner’s investigation into the Bank of England’s official involvement in, or awareness of, conduct issues in the foreign exchange market, in the periods between 2005 and 2013.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a report following its peer review on best execution under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
During the peer review ESMA reviewed how national regulators supervise and enforce the MiFID provisions relating to investment firms’ obligation to provide best execution, or obtain the best possible result, for their clients when executing their orders.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Benchmarks (the Principles) were published in July 2013 with the aim of creating an overarching framework of principles for benchmarks used in financial markets, covering governance and accountability as well as the quality and transparency of benchmark design and methodologies.
IOSCO subsequently conducted a review to chart the extent to which the Principles have been implemented by a sample of benchmark administrators across different asset classes and geographies, allowing for comparisons based on these characteristics.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has published a technical release containing revised guidance for skilled persons’ reviews under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA).
The purpose of the guidance is to provide supplemental guidance to skilled persons in undertaking their role and carrying out their responsibilities in connection with a skilled person reporting engagement. The guidance is not mandatory nor is to endorsed by the FCA or PRA.
There has been published on the legislation.gov.uk website the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2015 (the Order) together with an explanatory memorandum.
The Order amends the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 so as to specify additional benchmarks following the recommendations of the Fair and Effective Markets Review. The Order also specifies the additional benchmarks for the purposes of the offences in section 91 of the Financial Services Act 2012 concerning false or misleading statements in relation to benchmarks.
There has been published on the legislation.gov.uk website the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Order 2015 (the Order) together with an explanatory memorandum.
The Order makes amendments to the:
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a final report on its market investigation into payday lending.
The CMA, in looking at whether competition is working well in the payday lending sector and what should be done if it is not, has concluded that there are a combination of market features that give rise to the limited responsiveness of customer demand to prices, thereby reducing the pressure for lenders to compete to attract customers by lowering their prices.
The FCA has published Consultation Paper 15/6: Consumer credit – proposed changes to our rules and guidance (CP15/6).
In CP15/6 the FCA is consulting on changes it intends to make to its consumer credit regime. Key proposals include those that relate to:
The Bank of England (BoE) has published a speech by Andrew Hauser, Director of Market Strategy at the BoE and head of the Fair and Effective Markets Review (FEMR) secretariat. In his speech Mr Hauser highlights some of the areas where the responses to the FEMR consultation on the fairness and effectiveness of fixed income, currency and commodities markets (FICC) identified scope for change:
The Bank of England has published the responses it has received to the consultation by the Fair and Effective Markets Review (FEMR) on the fairness and effectiveness of fixed income, currency and commodities markets.
Amongst the responses, the Market Practitioner Panel, which was set up to support the FEMR by providing a channel through which market participants can engage with and contribute to it, identifies three recurrent themes, namely the need: