United Kingdom (and EU regulation)

European Commission consults on AIFMD review

On 22 October 2020, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the review of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The public consultation follows the European Commission’s review report sent to the European Parliament and the Council on 10 June 2020. The review report concluded that, while the AIFMD has contributed to the … Continue Reading

Member States discuss proposed European legislation on digital operational resilience

By Anna Carrier (BE) on October 23, 2020 Posted in Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 22 October 2020, the German Presidency of the Council held a meeting of a working party on financial services, agenda of which included discussion on the recently published European Commission proposal for a Regulation on digital operational resilience in financial services (DORA). We provided an overview of the proposed legislation in our earlier blog … Continue Reading

Bribery and money laundering considerations for joint ventures

Introduction Whatever the legal form of a joint venture, the collaboration and joint participation in the JV’s business objectives can present an enhanced corruption risk. This is because in some circumstances, a company entering into a JV could be criminally liable for the corrupt actions of its JV partner, the JV itself, or third parties … Continue Reading

Financial Services Bill published

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 23, 2020 Posted in Brexit, United Kingdom

Introduction On 21 October 2020, the UK Government published the Financial Services Bill (the Bill). The Bill was introduced to the House of Commons and given its First Reading that day. First Reading stage is a formal stage where no debate takes place. MPs will next consider the Bill at Second Reading. The date for … Continue Reading

Doing business in the EU after the transition period

We have further updated our popular client briefing note ‘Doing business in the EU’ covering the temporary transitional relief measures EU27 Member States are implementing, if any, for the period after the transition period should the UK/EU not enter into a free trade agreement. For a copy of the updated briefing note please contact Simon … Continue Reading

Regulation and Directive on European crowdfunding service providers published in OJ

By Matthew Gregory (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Germany, Italy, Regulation and Compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 6 October 2020, we reported that the European Parliament issued a press release stating that it had adopted at second reading a Regulation on European crowdfunding service providers for business and a Directive making amendments to MiFID II. These two pieces of EU legislation were subsequently published in the Official Journal of the EU … Continue Reading

FCA updates statement on firms’ complaint handling

By John Coley (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Coronavirus, United Kingdom

On 20 October 2020, the FCA updated its webpage concerning firm handling of complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FCA has provided updated information on payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints and reinforces its messaging about the importance of continuing to comply with complaint handling requirements. In particular, claims management companies are reminded of the FCA’s … Continue Reading

FCA occasional paper on understanding consumer financial wellbeing through banking data

By Matthew Gregory (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Retail, United Kingdom

On 20 October 2020, the FCA published Occasional Paper No. 58: Understanding consumer financial wellbeing through banking data. In this Occasional Paper, the authors integrate two approaches by investigating the relationship between subjective financial wellbeing, measured by self-reported responses of survey respondents, and objective financial wellbeing, measured by the same respondents’ bank account data. This … Continue Reading

HMT Policy Paper – Amendments to the Benchmarks Regulation to support LIBOR transition

By Hannah Meakin (UK) and Hannah McAslan (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Benchmarks – IBOR transition, United Kingdom

On 21 October 2020, HM Treasury published a Policy Paper ‘Amendments to the Benchmarks Regulation to support LIBOR transition’. The Policy Paper refers to the Financial Services Bill (Bill) that the UK Government has brought forward which, among other things, amends the Benchmarks Regulation, providing an overarching legal framework which gives the FCA new and … Continue Reading

BoE MoU with CFTC for supervision of cross-border clearing organisations

By Hannah McAslan (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, United Kingdom, United States

On 20 October 2020, there was published a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Bank of England (BoE) and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding cooperation and the exchange of information in the supervision and oversight of clearing organisations that operate on a cross-border basis in both the United States and the … Continue Reading

EBA issues opinion to address possible infection risk stemming from legacy instruments

By Albert Weatherill (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Capital Adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 21 October 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued an opinion to clarify the prudential treatment of the so-called ‘legacy instruments” in view of the end of the grandfathering period on 31 December 2021. In its opinion, the EBA proposes policy options to address the infection risk when created by such instruments. The EBA’s … Continue Reading

Second PRA consultation on implementing CRD V

By Jochen Vester (UK) and Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Capital adequacy, United Kingdom

On 20 October 2020, the PRA published Consultation Paper 17/20: Capital Requirements Directive V (CRD V): Further implementation (CP17/20). In CP17/20 the PRA sets out proposed changes to its rules, supervisory statements (SS) and statements of policy (SoP) to implement elements of the Capital Requirements Directive V (CRD V). It also proposes to update aspects … Continue Reading

UK regulators send ‘Dear CEO’ letter to insurers concerning preparations for the end of the transition period

By Laura Hodgson (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Brexit, Insurance, United Kingdom

The two UK financial regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have sent a letter to the chief executives and branch managers of insurance firms in the UK. The letter reminds firms about the end of the transition period in December and the need to be ready for a range … Continue Reading

European Commission Work Programme 2021: focus on financial services

By Flupke van den Bogart on October 21, 2020 Posted in EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020 the European Commission published its Work Programme for 2021. The Work Programme, titled ‘A Union of vitality in a world of fragility’, is the second one published by the Von der Leyen Commission. The Work Programme provides an overview of the legislative priorities of the Commission for the upcoming year, as … Continue Reading

Download now | Global operational resilience and COVID-19 survey report

Financial institutions have had to deal with two challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first challenge is financial – how to address and mitigate the sharp drop in the value of financial assets or loss of liquidity. The second challenge is operational – how to address the risk of failure of resources … Continue Reading

HM Treasury consults on phase II of the financial services future regulatory framework review

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Brexit, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020, HM Treasury issued phase II of its consultation on the financial services future regulatory framework review. Phase I of the review looked at coordination between the UK authorities that have responsibility for the regulation of, and policy for, the financial services sector. HM Government published its response on 11 March 2020, … Continue Reading

October 40 Minute Briefing recording – Learning lessons: Proactive governance in the autumn

By Katie Stephen (UK), John Coley (UK), Sonya Zywko (UK) and Iain Hawthorn on October 20, 2020 Posted in Seminars, webinars and podcasts, United Kingdom

The recording from the October 40 Minute Briefing, Learning lessons: Proactive governance in the autumn, is now available here. In the October edition of the webinar we focussed on “lessons learned” reviews, examining how such reviews can be successfully conducted so that they are valuable exercises. The webinar also considered skilled persons reviews, focussing in … Continue Reading

ESMA consults on RTS related to EMIR 2.2

By Hannah McAslan (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Clearing and Settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a consultation paper regarding the technical standards on conditions which require an extension of authorisation for a central counterparty (CCP), conditions which require validations of a CCP’s changes to models and parameters by a Member State competent authority (NCA) and ESMA and the … Continue Reading

FSB final report – Effective practices for cyber incident response and recovery

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 19 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a toolkit of effective practices for financial institutions’ cyber incident response and recovery (CIRR). The toolkit draws on the feedback from a public consultation process, including four virtual outreach meetings. The report was delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for their October … Continue Reading

Commission consultation on ELTIFs

By Imogen Garner (UK) and Iona Wright (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Collective Investment Schemes, Collective investment schemes, Collective investment schemes, Collective investment schemes, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020, the European Commission launched a public consultation on EU rules for long-term investment funds. European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) is an EU scheme to facilitate investment – through alternative investment funds – in longer-term assets such as transport and social infrastructure projects (energy, hospitals, social housing), property and small firms. The … Continue Reading

FSB publishes global transition roadmap for LIBOR

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Benchmarks – IBOR transition, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 16 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a global transition roadmap for LIBOR. The roadmap sets out a timetable of actions for financial and non-financial sector firms to take in order to ensure a smooth LIBOR transition by end-2021. The roadmap provides that: By the end of 2020, at a minimum: Lenders … Continue Reading

HM Treasury launches Call for Evidence on the UK’s approach to Solvency II

By Laura Hodgson (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Insurance, United Kingdom

In June 2020, the UK Government announced that it would review some of the features of Solvency II to ensure that the regime better reflects the UK insurance sector. The present regime, as implemented into UK law, has been designed to cover the entire EU insurance market but has not been adjusted to take into … Continue Reading

Monthly Global FinTech regulatory updater

By Hannah Meakin (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, 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 … Continue Reading

Additional measures to assist insurance customers in financial difficulty introduced by the FCA

By Laura Hodgson (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Coronavirus, Insurance, United Kingdom

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced proposals on how firms should continue to support customers who hold insurance and premium finance products and may be in financial difficulty due to coronavirus (Covid-19). The proposals consider the ways in which firms might provide support to consumers who have already had a payment deferral and to … Continue Reading