On 20 September 2023, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter, in which it outlines its priorities for the funeral plans sector for 2023-25. The letter also updates firms on the specific risks of harm that the FCA is concerned about and what it expects firms to do about them. The FCA’s sector specific priorities … Continue Reading
On 7 September 2023, a joint trade association comprising of the EFAMA, BFPI Ireland, EACB, FIA EPTA, Federation of the Dutch Pension Funds, Finance Denmark, Nordic Securities Association, AIMA, ICI Global, FIA and ISDA published a statement on the European Commission’s (the Commission) proposed active account requirement (AAR) under EMIR 3.0. This proposal would require … Continue Reading
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has published a media release to confirm that the current transitional licensing relief for foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) providing financial services to Australian wholesale clients has been extended for a further 12 months to 31 March 2025. FFSPs who held the benefit of “sufficient equivalence relief” under certain ASIC class … Continue Reading
As 2022 came to a close, the regulators concluded the year with a busy month in December. Notably, ASIC ended the year by reminding stakeholders of the importance of ensuring that claims made in relation to a product were accurate, especially in the context of environmental claims, reflecting ASIC’s increased focus on greenwashing in 2022. … Continue Reading
On 6 February 2023 the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) held a joint public hearing on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (“Digital Operational Resilience Act” or DORA). As per a follow up press release, the event – held online – gathered over 2,000 representatives from credit … Continue Reading
On 1 February 2023, the European Commission published a Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) which amends the regulatory technical standards laid down in Delegated Regulation 2017/588 as regards the annual application date of the calculations of the average daily number of transactions for shares, depository receipts and exchange-traded funds for the purposes of the tick sizes. … Continue Reading
Introduction On 9 December 2022, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a set of reforms (the “Edinburgh Reforms”) that aim to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector[1]. As part of the Edinburgh Reforms, the UK Government published both an illustrative Statutory Instrument on the Securitisation Regulation (the “Illustrative Securitisation SI”) and a … Continue Reading
On 21 December 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) provided an update on the European Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) to the Dutch Parliament. The text of MiCAR is currently being finalised and translated. MiCAR will be applicable 18 months after the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European … Continue Reading
On 19 December 2022, the Bank of England (the Bank) published the supervision of financial market infrastructures annual report. The report explains that financial market infrastructure firms (FMIs) supervised by the Bank are essential to the smooth and safe operation of the UK financial system. Consequently, the Bank’s supervision of FMIs is essential for financial … Continue Reading
We have now updated our two guides on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which has now been in force for approximately nine years. Both guides are now in their fifth iteration. The first guide considers whether the AIFMD marketing passport is working in practice and is a useful tool for managers as it … Continue Reading
On 24 November 2022, following an application from an insurer and further consultation with industry, consumers and government stakeholders, ASIC introduced the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910 (Instrument) to provide relief to certain Authorised Representatives of Australian financial services licensees (ARs) from complying with the requirement to provide a Financial Services Guide. This … Continue Reading
On 16 December 2022, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued a progress report on the transition from LIBOR and other benchmarks. The progress report: The progress report makes the following conclusions:… Continue Reading
In the second in our global series of regulatory podcasts focusing on conduct issues, financial services partners from Australia, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States consider the cross border distribution of funds by focussing on the following five topics: What trends or industry developments are you seeing in your jurisdiction as … Continue Reading
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
On 21 October 2022, the FCA published LIBOR Notice: Article 21(3) Benchmarks Regulation – Notice of first decision. The notice sets forth that the FCA has decided to compel ICE Benchmark Administration Limited to continue publishing 1- month sterling, and 6- month sterling LIBOR. The compulsion period shall be for 3 months starting immediately after … Continue Reading
On 25 October 2022, Regulation (EU) 2022/3036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and Directive 2014/59/EU as regards the prudential treatment of global systemically important institutions with a multiple-point-of-entry resolution strategy and methods for … Continue Reading
September saw a variety of regulatory changes from ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC and ACCC in the financial services sector. Meanwhile, ASIC conducted a review into claims made by funds in their marketing material, finding that many did not adequately explain the risk profile of the investment. ASIC also exempted insurers from releasing a cash settlement fact … Continue Reading
On 6 October 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which the regulator comments on transactions taking place between crypto service providers registered in the Netherlands and crypto service providers based outside of the EU which are not registered (non-EU crypto service providers). DNB indicates that when a … Continue Reading
On 14 April 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) in which it is announced that the enforcement of the statutory obligation to register ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) in the Dutch UBO register will commence. The Dutch UBO register for most types of Dutch legal … Continue Reading
The month of March saw developments in relation to major legislative initiatives and regulatory consultations. Notably, the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure Protection) Bill 2022 passed both Houses of Parliament and Amended Regulations pertaining to both Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers and the CCIV framework were registered. ASIC also opened up industry consultation on the AFS … Continue Reading
On 25 November 2021, the PRA published Consultation Paper 21/21: Operational Resilience and Operational Continuity in Resolution: CRR firms, Solvency II firms, and Financial Holding Companies (for Operational Resilience) (CP21/21). In CP21/21 the PRA sets out proposals to apply the group provisions in the Operational Resilience Part of the PRA Rulebook relevant to Capital Requirements … Continue Reading
On 19 November 2021, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published for consultation a Q&A addressing crypto service providers’ compliance with the Dutch Sanctions Act 1977 (Sanctiewet 1977). DNB notes that in addition to money laundering and terrorist financing risks, executing crypto transactions and providing crypto services also involve risks of violating sanctions regulations. … Continue Reading
September continued to be a busy month in the funds, super and insurance sectors, as the industry is in the final stages of preparing for the anticipated breach-reporting, anti-hawking reforms and new customer complaints handling requirements which are effective from October. Notably, ASIC has provided further guidance on each of these topics to assist the … Continue Reading
6 October 2021 | 08:50 AM – 09:30 AM BST Treasury activities are subject to constant regulatory change. Acting typically in a sell-side and a buy-side capacity, Treasury functions need to stay on top of regulatory developments, most of which are linked to each other. They may be impacting the instruments on their firm’s balance sheet and … Continue Reading
