On 28 February 2022, the FCA published Handbook Notice No 96.

 This Handbook Notice reports on the instruments that the FCA Board approved on 25 February 2022. These were:

  • Funeral Plans (No 3) Instrument 2022. In Consultation Paper 21/4 the FCA proposed changes to chapter 8 of the Funeral Planning Conduct of Business (FPCOB) sourcebook requiring firms selling funeral plans to: (i) ask customers questions to identify both their demands and needs; (ii) conduct an assessment of those demands and needs; and (iii) limit the products they propose to customers to only those products which they assess as being consistent with those demands and needs. If the firm has no products which are consistent with a customer’s needs, they cannot offer the consumer anything. The FCA’s intention was to apply these rules to all firms selling funeral plans. However, when these rules were confirmed in Policy Statement 21/8 their application was limited to intermediaries. The Funeral Plans (No 3) Instrument 2022 amends the application of FPCOB 8 so that the rules also apply to funeral plan providers selling their own plans directly to customers. This instrument comes into force on 29 July 2022, immediately after the commencement of the Funeral Plans Instrument 2021.
  • Technical Standards (Markets in Financial Instruments) (Transaction Reporting) Instrument 2022. This instrument makes changes to amend the exclusion from transaction reporting for securities financing transactions (SFTs) which is set out in Article 2(5)(a) of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive RTS 22, as onshored. As currently drafted the exclusion is a qualified exclusion, as it does not apply to SFTs to which the counterparty is a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) or the Bank of England. The amendment widens the existing exclusion of SFTs from reporting under the UK Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation to also include SFTs where the counterparty is a member of the ESCB or the Bank of England. The instrument comes into force on 1 April 2022.
  • Enforcement Guide (EU Exit Passport Regulations) Instrument 2022. The instrument, which comes into force on 28 February 2022, follows Consultation Paper 21/35 and inserts a new section 19 to the Enforcement Guide.