Australia

IOSCO statement on credit sensitive rates

On 8 September 2021, the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a statement on credit sensitive rates. Among other things the statement notes that regulators are concerned that some of LIBOR’s shortcomings may be replicated through the use of credit sensitive rates that lack sufficient underlying transaction volumes. The disproportionality between … Continue Reading

Basel III and global cooperation: where do we go from here?

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on September 9, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital Adequacy, Capital Adequacy, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

On 8 September 2021, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a speech given by its Secretary General, Carolyn Rogers, entitled Basel III and global cooperation: where do we go from here? During the course of her speech Carolyn Rogers addresses, among other things, some of the more common arguments that have been used to … Continue Reading

IOSCO publishes guidance for intermediaries and asset managers using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on September 9, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 7 September 2021, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published guidance to help its members regulate and supervise the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) by market intermediaries and asset managers, following its consultation report published in June. The guidance consists of six measures that reflect expected standards of conduct … Continue Reading

Monthly Global FinTech regulatory updater

By Hannah Meakin (UK) on September 3, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Every month we provide the Global Blockchain Business Council’s Post-Trade Distributed Ledger group with a global regulatory FinTech updater, the latest version of which can be found here. Post Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group is composed of over 40 prominent market infrastructure stakeholders whose shared vision of the use of distributed ledger technology has brought them … Continue Reading

Financial services monthly wrap-up

By Diane Dalfonso, Jon Ireland, Ray Giblett (AU), Merren, Laura Taylor, Timothy Chan (AU), Alex Madry, Remy Michelson and Melanie Lo on September 2, 2021 Posted in Australia, General, Uncategorized

The month of August 2021 saw a release of anticipated updates to the upcoming changes in the funds management, superannuation and insurance sectors. Notably, Treasury has released the draft updated Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle fund legislation and tax framework, the release of the first Your Future Your Super performance test results and APRA and ASIC … Continue Reading

Casino left without a cent as Federal Court rules on Business Interruption coverage claim

By Ray Giblett (AU) and Timothy Chan (AU) on August 30, 2021 Posted in Australia, FinTech, General, Investigations, Investment

A significant Covid-19 related business interruption claim has been decided in favour of insurers. In Star Entertainment Group Limited v Chubb Insurance Australia Ltd [2021] FCA 907, the Federal Court dismissed Star Entertainment Group’s claim for business interruption losses under an industrial special risks (ISR) policy. It appears Star has appealed the decision. Not surprisingly, … Continue Reading

Government fills the void for unfair contract term enforcement

By Ray Giblett (AU) and Timothy Chan (AU) on August 24, 2021 Posted in Australia, Financial advice, FinTech, General, Insurance, Public Submissions

Following its adoption by insurers in April this year, unfair contract terms laws are set for another revamp. The Treasury has just released draft legislation which will make unfair contract terms unlawful. These laws have been foreshadowed for some time (see our previous update). Currently no pecuniary penalties apply once a contract term is declared … Continue Reading

GFXC releases guidance paper on Last Look, publishes disclosure templates

By Hannah Meakin (UK) on August 19, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Clearing and Settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and Settlement, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 18 August 2021, the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) issued a guidance paper on ‘last look’ trading within the Foreign Exchange market. Last look is a practice used in electronic trading where a market participant has a final opportunity to accept or reject a trade request made on its quoted price. The GFXC is … Continue Reading

Monthly Global FinTech regulatory updater

BIS Innovation Hub and Monetary Authority of Singapore publish proposal for enhancing global real-time retail payments network connectivity

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on August 10, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Payment services, Payment Services, Payment services, Payment services, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 28 July 2021, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub Singapore Centre and the Monetary Authority of Singapore published a proposed blueprint for enhancing global payments network connectivity via multilateral linkages of countries’ national retail payment systems. Titled ‘Project Nexus’, the blueprint outlines how countries can fully integrate their retail payment systems onto a … Continue Reading

Financial services monthly wrap-up July 2021

By Jon Ireland, Ray Giblett (AU), Stephen Putnins, Laura Taylor, Alex Madry and Melanie Lo on August 8, 2021 Posted in Australia, General

The month of July 2021 saw the release of various anticipated consultations for the financial services sector. In this wrap-up, we feature: ASIC’s consultation on the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) draft bill which is set to improve the risk and governance cultures of the banking, insurance and superannuation sectors. Guidance on hawking reforms and the … Continue Reading

CPMI work programme for 2021-22

On 5 August 2021, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published its work programme for 2021-22. The annual work programme has been publicly released for the first time as part of the CPMI’s commitment to increased transparency. The annual work programme will focus on shaping the future of payments and addressing risks in … Continue Reading

Proportionality in bank regulation and supervision – a joint global survey

On 30 July 2021, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) and the World Bank (WB) published a report on an earlier joint global survey that focussed on proportionality in bank regulation and supervision. The survey involved 90 authorities, with a broad distribution across geographical regions and income groups. The concept of proportionality is … Continue Reading

A tale of two claims: Federal Court hands down two judgments on non-disclosure

By Diane Dalfonso, Ray Giblett (AU), Timothy Chan (AU) and Melanie Lo on August 1, 2021 Posted in Australia, General, Insurance

In what has proven to be the best and worst of times for insurers, two recent Federal Court of Australia decisions shed further light on when an insurer may be able (or in the case of the second case, unable) to exercise its statutory rights in the event of non-disclosure. In All Class Insurance Brokers … Continue Reading

Not FAR to go until accountability regimes come to insurance

By Ray Giblett (AU), Matthew Ellis (AU), Timothy Chan (AU) and Caterina Presutti on July 30, 2021 Posted in Australia, BEAR, FinTech, General, Insurance

The Treasury has released for consultation the draft bill for the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR or the Regime). The Regime will apply to the banking, superannuation and insurance sectors. Importantly, the Regime strengthens the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR), and extends the regime, in line with the recommendations from the Financial Services Royal Commission, to … Continue Reading

ISDA announces results of consultation on fallbacks for GBP LIBOR ICE Swap Rate and USD LIBOR Swap Rate

By Hannah Meakin (UK) on July 28, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Benchmarks – IBOR transition, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 23 July 2021, the ISDA announced the results of its consultation on the implementation of fallbacks for the sterling LIBOR ICE Swap Rate and the US dollar LIBOR ICE Swap Rate. The ISDA states that the results indicate a significant majority of respondents agree with the fallback provisions set out in the draft amendments … Continue Reading

IOSCO consults on ESG ratings and data providers

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on July 27, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, ESG, ESG, ESG, ESG, ESG, ESG, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands

On 26 July 2021, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a consultation report intended to assist its members in understanding the implications of the activities of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and data providers and in establishing frameworks to mitigate risks stemming from these activities. The consultation report has five chapters: Chapter … Continue Reading

Are insurers still allowed to talk to customers? ASIC proposes changes to Hawking Prohibitions regulatory guidance

By Ray Giblett (AU), Timothy Chan (AU) and Caterina Presutti on July 27, 2021 Posted in Australia, General, Insurance, Uncategorized

On 21 July 2021, ASIC released Consultation Paper 346 and a draft updated Regulatory Guide 38 (RG 38) to reflect new legislative changes that strengthen the current hawking prohibitions. As many in the industry will know, new hawking prohibitions come into effect on 5 October 2021. The new hawking prohibitions will not only affect insurers, … Continue Reading

Monthly Global FinTech regulatory updater

Basel Committee consults on an amendment to the process for reviewing the G-SIB methodology

On 20 July 2021, the Basel Committee of Banking Supervision published a consultation document setting out a technical amendment to the Basel framework. The amendment sets out a new process that will be used by the Committee to review the assessment methodology for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The Committee plans to replace the existing … Continue Reading

GFXC updates FX Global Code, publishes new templates for disclosures and guidance paper on Pre-hedging

On 15 July 2021, the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) completed its review of the FX Global Code, updating its principles of good practice in the foreign exchange market in several key areas. The GFXC also published templates for industry participants to use in improving disclosures and assisting with transaction cost analysis. The GFXC is … Continue Reading

Episode 9 of the Regulation Tomorrow Podcast – out now

By Jonathan Herbst (UK), Samuel Ramer (US), Jon Ireland and Sun Hong on July 15, 2021 Posted in Asia, Australia, Seminars, webinars and podcasts, United Kingdom, United States

Episode 9 of the Regulation Tomorrow Podcast is available to stream and download on your usual podcast platform. In this month’s podcast we speak to Jonathan Herbst about the future of financial services in the UK and also the HMT Wholesale Markets Review. We are joined by Sam Ramer from our US practice, who explains … Continue Reading

FSB interim report on lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic from a financial stability perspective

On 13 July 2021, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published an interim report on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic from a financial stability perspective. Among other things the interim report notes that: So far, the global financial system has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to greater resilience, supported by the G20 reforms, and … Continue Reading

Report on CBDCs

On 9 July 2021, there was published a report on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The report was released by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The report looks at how CBDCs could facilitate enhanced cross-border payments, and how … Continue Reading