On 7 February 2020, the FCA updated its Policy development update webpage providing information on recent and upcoming FCA publications. In terms of upcoming publications, the FCA states that in March it will publish a consultation paper on exit fees in investment platforms and comparable firms.… Continue Reading
On 11 December 2019, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), Regulation (EU) 2019/2115 amending Directive 2014/65/EU and Regulations (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) 2017/1129 as regards the promotion of the use of SME growth markets. The Regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in … Continue Reading
On 9 December 2019, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2091 (the Amending Regulation) amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2197 with regard to closely correlated currencies in accordance with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The Amending Regulation replaces the text of the Annex to Implementing Regulation … Continue Reading
On 6 December 2019, the FCA published its latest policy development update setting out information on recent and forthcoming FCA publications. Forthcoming FCA publications include: consultation and discussion on Investment Market Study remedies (to be published alongside the Market Study Final Report) – expected March 2019; consultation on price discrimination in the cash savings market … Continue Reading
On 2 December 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published guidance on registering securitisation repositories. ESMA has direct responsibilities regarding the registration and supervision of securitisation repositories under the Securitisation Regulation laying down a general framework for securitisation and creating a specific framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation. The purpose of the … Continue Reading
On 29 November 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its annual report on market share calculation for EU registered credit rating agencies for 2019 (CRAs). The purpose of the report is to provide guidance on Article 8d of the Regulation on CRAs which provides that issuers or related third parties are required … Continue Reading
In July the European Banking Authority published two final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) under the Securitisation Regulation. The first of these RTS established the conditions for which underlying exposures are to be considered homogeneous, being one of the requirements with respect to simplicity, standardisation and transparency of a securitisation transaction. Our earlier blog is … Continue Reading
On 28 October 2019, the House of Commons Treasury Committee published a report on IT failures in the financial services sector. The report sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations following a series of written submissions from various stakeholders (see previous blog here). These recommendations include: further regulatory intervention to improve the operational resilience … Continue Reading
On 15 October 2019, the European Commission (Commission) and the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) published a joint statement (dated 11 October) on the inaugural meeting of the joint EU-Japan regulatory forum held in Tokyo. Senior officials present at the meeting included representatives from the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the European … Continue Reading
On 7 October 2019, the PRA published Occasional Consultation Paper 25/19: Occasional Consultation Paper (CP25/19). In CP25/19 the PRA proposes minor amendments to PRA Rulebook Parts, Supervisory Statements (SS), Statements of Policy (SoP) and relevant templates. In chapter 2, the PRA sets out proposals to update SS20/15: Supervising building societies’ treasury and lending activities and … Continue Reading
On 5 September 2019, the FCA published a speech given by Charles Randell, FCA Chair, on the fight against skimmers and scammers. In his speech Mr Randell raises some questions about the system for combatting investment fraud, from the point of view of the FCA, one of the many bodies with a role within such … Continue Reading
On 13 August 2019, the Single Resolution Board (SRB) published a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between itself and the European Commission in respect of co-operation and information exchange pursuant to the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation (SRMR). The MOU aims to codify best practices and ensure that effective working arrangements are in place between the Commission … Continue Reading
On 17 July 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a call for evidence on certain investor protection topics included in the European Commission mandate to ESMA on the reports to be submitted by the Commission under Article 90 of MiFID II. Article 90 of MiFID II provides that the Commission shall, after consulting ESMA, … Continue Reading
On 28 June 2019, the FCA published Handbook Notice 67. This Handbook Notice provides a summary of the changes the FCA board made to the Handbook on 30 May 2019 and 27 June 2019. The relevant instruments are: Mortgages and Home Finance (Peer to Peer) Instrument 2019; Operating an Electronic System in Relation to Lending … Continue Reading
On 4 June 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a speech from its Chair, Steven Maijoor, on international cooperation in financial regulation and supervision. Key points to note in the speech include: as of October 2018, the EU had granted equivalence to thirty-five jurisdictions across eight securities and accounting files; ESMA’s view … Continue Reading
On 30 May 2019, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/815 of 17 December 2018 supplementing the Transparency Directive with regard to RTS on the specification of a single electronic reporting format. The Commission Delegated Regulation specifies the single electronic reporting format, as referred to in Article … Continue Reading
On 29 May 2019 ESMA released a statement clarifying its position on the share trading obligation in a hard Brexit scenario. In its view, all EU27 shares, i.e. ISINs starting with a country code corresponding to an EU27 Member State and, in addition, shares with an ISIN from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are within the … Continue Reading
On 14 May 2019, there was published on legislation.gov.uk The Proxy Advisors (Shareholders’ Rights) Regulations 2019, together with an explanatory memorandum. These Regulations transpose Article 3j of the revised EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) into UK law, in line with the UK’s obligations as a member of the EU. Article 3j of SRD II … Continue Reading
On 7 May 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a letter it sent to the Director General for Financial Stability at the Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA), dated 5 March 2019, regarding the European Commission’s call for advice (CFA) for the purposes of a benchmarking of national loan enforcement frameworks (including insolvency … Continue Reading
On 2 May 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a consultation on the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the mapping of derivative transactions to risk categories, on supervisory delta formula for interest rate options and on determination of long or short positions in the standardised approach for counterparty credit risk under Article 277(5) … Continue Reading
On 26 April 2019, the FCA announced that it is delaying the publication of its final rules for contract for differences (CFDs) and CFD-like options sold to retail clients. The FCA consulted in December on making the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) temporary product intervention measures for CFDs permanent in the UK, and in February, the … Continue Reading
On 18 April 2019, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter which explains its view of the key harms that brokerage firms operating in wholesale financial markets pose to their clients and markets. The letter also sets out the FCA’s strategy to mitigate the drivers of those harms. In terms of Brexit, the letter states: … Continue Reading
On 4 April 2019, the FCA published a revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) between itself and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The purpose of the MoU is to facilitate and provide a framework for co-operation between the FCA and ASA by setting out the respective regulatory responsibilities of the FCA and ASA and a framework … Continue Reading
On 1 April 2019, the Financial Services and markets (Insolvency) (Amendment of Miscellaneous Enactments) Regulations 2019 were made and published on legislation.gov.uk together with an explanatory memorandum. The Regulations come into force on 23 April 2019. The Regulations make consequential amendments to various financial services instruments in consequence of: in England and Wales, the revocation … Continue Reading