On 22 April 2026, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced proposals to “transform” Ofgem’s role and powers to strengthen protections for energy consumers. While much of the detail is still to follow, the announcement highlighted three areas where Ofgem’s remit could be materially expanded. Each has clear parallels with
Since the outbreak of hostilities in Iran and the surrounding region on February 28, 2026, the conflict has introduced notable volatility into global energy markets. Crude oil and refined product prices have experienced sharp dislocations, natural gas benchmarks have come under pressure and physical supply chains across the region and beyond have faced material disruption.
On 7 April 2026, the Dutch Minister of Finance submitted a further report regarding the proposed amendment to the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht, AFS) implementing the amended Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR).
The Dutch
In the latest edition of our podcast series, Split the Difference, Mark Highman, Stephan Ariyan, Hannah Meakin and Simon Lovegrove compare the US and UK regulatory approaches to Prediction Markets and Events Contracts.
Listen to this episode here.
On March 12, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission took two significant actions furthering the development of a regulatory framework for prediction markets. First, the CFTC issued a staff advisory outlining current regulatory expectations for listing and trading event contracts on prediction markets. Second, the CFTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, signaling the
On 19 March 2026, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a consultation report inviting comments on proposed good practices intended to support the implementation of IOSCO’s Principles for the Regulation and Supervision of Commodity Derivatives Markets (the Principles). Specifically, the consultation report is focussing on strengthening Principles 12 (authority to
On 17 March 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued two consultations on initial margin model authorisation under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/2987 (EMIR 3).
Under the new EMIR 3 rules, counterparties using internal initial margin models must obtain prior authorisation from
In our latest briefing note, we explain the upcoming changes to the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) as carbon pricing enters a new phase through the expansion of their emissions trading systems to cover new sectors while introducing broader carbon measures
On 2 March 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the following final reports on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on margin transparency requirements and information on clearing fees and associated costs under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
Background
On 24 June 2025, ESMA issued consultation