February 2018

Under the FCA’s proposals to extend the Senior Managers and Certification Regime to almost all regulated firms, only the most senior individuals within firms will appear on the FCA Financial Services Register (the Register). The FCA has issued a statement on its website stating that it has received substantial feedback on the public value of maintaining a central public record of certification employees and other important individuals in FCA regulated firms who would no longer appear on the Register. The FCA states that it will consult on proposals by summer 2018.

The PRA has published Policy Statement 2/18: Pillar 2 liquidity (PS2/18).

PS2/18 provides feedback to Consultation Paper 21/16: Pillar 2 liquidity (CP21/16) and Consultation Paper 13/17: Pillar 2 liquidity (CP13/17). In these Consultation Papers the PRA made proposals to:

  • use the methodologies consulted on, in future PRA liquidity assessments;
  • introduce a cashflow mismatch risk (CFMR)

The FCA has published its latest Handbook Notice (No. 52).

This Handbook Notice describes the changes that the FCA board made to the Handbook on 22 February 2018 under the following instruments:

  • Financial Services Compensation Scheme (Transitional Levy Provisions) Instrument 2018;
  • Supervision Manual (Financial Crime Report) (Amendment) Instrument 2018;
  • Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (Amendment)

The FCA has published Policy Statement 18/3: Perimeter guidance on personal recommendations on retail investments (PS18/3).

In PS18/3 the FCA follows up on proposed amendments to the Perimeter Guidance (PERG) manual set out in Consultation Paper 17/28: Financial Advice Market Review: implementation Part II and insistent clients (CP17/28).

The FCA has also:

  • published final Handbook

Increasingly, clients are coming to us for regulatory advice surrounding the mining of cryptocurrency tokens, operating digital currency exchanges, raising funds through Initial Coin Offerings, and investments involving cryptocurrencies.

On the heels of such heightened interest in investing in cryptocurrencies, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has released their guidance with respect to Listed

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, the US Supreme Court resolved a circuit split by unanimously holding that an employee must report suspected securities law violations to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in order to qualify as a whistleblower entitled to protection from retaliation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

The Investment Association (IA) has published a series of guidelines designed to ‘shine a light’ and address a number of concerns in the use of ‘Last Look’. Last Look is the practice whereby a liquidity provider, such as a bank, has the final opportunity to decline or accept a trade request. As part of the

The Banking Standards Board (BSB) has published supporting guidance to its Statement of Good Practice: Fitness and Propriety Assessment Principles. The guidance focuses on helping firms to identify and deal with risks and issues that may arise when assessing the fitness and propriety of their certified staff. The guidance does not impose any legal

The House of Commons’ Treasury Committee has launched a new inquiry into digital currencies and distributed ledger technology.

The inquiry will cover the opportunities and risks that digital currencies may bring to consumers, business and the Government. It will also examine the potential impact of distributed ledger technology on financial institutions, including the central bank

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a consultation report concerning conflicts of interest and associated conduct risks during the equity capital raising process.

The consultation report covers the key stages of the equity raising process where the role of intermediaries might give rise to conflicts of interest, and it requests public comment