June 2015

The General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (the Council) has sent an “I” item note to the Permanent Representatives Committee stating that on 17 June 2015 political agreement was reached on the draft Regulation on reporting and transparency of securities financing transactions.

The Permanent Representatives Committee is invited to:

  • approve the final compromise text of the draft Regulation; and
  • confirm that the Presidency of the Council can indicate to the European Parliament that, should the European Parliament adopt its position at first reading as regards the draft Regulation, the Council would approve the European Parliament’s position and the legislation be adopted.

In its CRD IV update for June the PRA notes that on 29 June 2015, it confirmed that firms are required to comply with the European Banking Authority’s Guidelines on materiality, proprietary and confidentiality on disclosure frequency from 15 October 2015. The guidelines promote market transparency by setting out a consistent framework for firms’ assessments of the frequency of disclosures and how firms should apply the concepts of materiality, proprietary and confidentiality when assessing the use of any waiver of disclosure requirements. The PRA expects firms to adjust their disclosure policies accordingly to fully comply with the guidelines for all transactions entered from 15 October 2015.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has provided preliminary information on the potential drivers of “de-risking” (where a financial institution terminates or restricts its business relationship with categories of customers) which highlights that there is a continued need to improve the evidence base in order to determine the causes, scale and impact of de-risking.

The FATF also states that it is undertaking work to further clarify the interplay between the FATF standards on correspondent banking (FATF Recommendation 13) and other intermediated relationships, and the FATF standards on customer due diligence (Recommendation 10) and wire transfers (Recommendation 16).

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published a public statement in which it has identified:

  • jurisdictions that are subject to a FATF call on its members and other jurisdictions to apply counter-measures to protect the international financial system from on-going and substantial money laundering and terrorist financing risks – Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and
  • jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering / combating the financing of terrorism deficiencies that have not made sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies or who have not committed to an action plan developed with the FATF to address them – Algeria and Myanmar.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a consultation report on Elements of International Regulatory Standards on Fees and Expenses of Investment Funds. The consultation report proposes an updated set of common international standards of best practice for the operators of collective investment schemes (CIS) and regulators to consider.

The consultation report…

The FCA has published Thematic Review 15/8: Quality of debt management advice (TR15/8).

TR15/8 is the FCA’s second thematic review into the consumer credit market (the first being on how payday lenders and other high-cost short-term credit providers collect debts and treat borrowers who experience financial difficulty).

The FCA considers that debt management is one…