March 2020 has seen a number of responses from the Government, regulators, associations and industry generally addressing issues and risks from the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This update includes key regulatory responses in the wake of COVID-19 for the funds and financial services sector. Of the notable developments outside COVID-19, on 10 March 2020 … Continue Reading
On 31 March 2020, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter to firms providing services to retail investors about coronavirus. The Dear CEO letter covers: client identify verification needs to continue, but firms have flexibility within FCA rules. During this period, the FCA expects firms to continue to comply with their obligations on client identity … Continue Reading
On 10 March 2020, ASIC published its media release announcing the new regulatory framework for foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) providing financial services to wholesale clients in Australia. Existing licensing relief has been extended as follows: ASIC has provided a 2 year transition period until 31 March 2022 for FFSPs relying on the sufficient equivalence … Continue Reading
On January 30, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board voted to finalize its April 2019 proposed rule to clarify and simplify the standards under which the Federal Reserve Board determines that one company controls a banking organization or another company. Our post on the April 2019 proposal may be accessed here. The final rule will be … Continue Reading
The months of December 2019 and January 2020 have proven to be a busy time for our Government and regulators, with significant changes and proposals for the funds and financial services sector. In particular, Treasury have released 17 bills in response to 22 recommendations made by Commissioner Hayne in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in … Continue Reading
On 16 January 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on the application by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. The review shows that, within the EEA, NCAs … Continue Reading
Following the release of the Royal Commission final report earlier this year, the Treasury has now released draft legislation that will make insurance claims handling a financial service under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This will give the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) greater supervisory responsibility over claims handling and require that these activities … Continue Reading
The US Government recently imposed additional economic sanctions with respect to Russia and Venezuela. Norton Rose Fulbright has prepared legal updates discussing these developments: US imposes second round of CBW Act sanctions on Russia, authored by Partners Stefan Reisinger and Steven McNabb, Senior Counsel Kimberly Caine, and Associate Wenda Tang in our Washington DC Office. … Continue Reading
Glen Barrentine, who recently joined as Of Counsel in the New York Office of Norton Rose Fulbright, has extensive experience in regulatory, compliance and enforcement issues affecting financial service companies, particularly broker-dealers, investment advisers, municipal advisors, and securities exchanges. He prepares a monthly update on FINRA (and selected SEC) regulatory matters at a glance, focusing … Continue Reading
The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) has invited market parties to respond to its consultation on the ‘Principles for Information Security’. This policy statement (beleidsuiting) describes the expectations of the AFM with regard to information security as part of the controlled and sound operations of financial institutions and accounting … Continue Reading
Further to our earlier blog post, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) has taken national measures mirroring ESMA’s product intervention measures. These measures – included in two separate Decrees, one dealing with binary options and the other with contracts for differences (CFDs) – were published in the Dutch Government … Continue Reading
We are pleased to announce that our Financial Institutions (FI) team will hold a Brexit seminar in February 2019 in Paris. The objective of the seminar is to create awareness of the impact on the European financial institutions industry doing business in the UK after Brexit. Our Paris and London FI experts will give an overview … Continue Reading
On 10 October 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) published the following forms in relation to the Money Market Funds Regulation (MMFR) in its Digital Portal: an application form to be used by managers of alternative investment funds (AIFs) and undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) to … Continue Reading
On 18 October 2018, a draft version of the Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018, as laid before Parliament, were published on the legislation.gov.uk website. A draft explanatory memorandum has also been published. Our previous blog on the draft statutory instrument can be found here.… Continue Reading
On 23 May 2018 APRA announced that it would conduct a review of the superannuation prudential framework that was introduced in 2013 as part of the Stronger Super reforms.[1] The consultation is scheduled to take place over a four-month period and involve both formal and informal feedback from stakeholders across the superannuation industry. The structure … Continue Reading
On 30 August 2018, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) published a consultation on amending the Dutch national regime under Section 3 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (MiFID II). The Minister proposes to extend the scope of the national regime. In addition to advisors in life insurance or mortgage credit, other … Continue Reading
On 23 January 2018, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) issued a press release on its website stating that it has concluded an investigation into compliance with statutory requirements regarding sound business conduct, governance and separation of assets by 12 managers of alternative investment funds (AIFMs) that were automatically … Continue Reading
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) issued a statement and a new compliance bulletin in response to recent news reports related to allegations that certain employees of banks were pressured to upsell to consumers to meet unrealistic sales targets and keep their jobs. FCAC compliance bulletin B-5 – consent for new products or services (the Bulletin) states … Continue Reading
On 1 March 2017 BaFin published an updated guidance notice on the authorisation of insurance joint-stock companies for the sole pursuit of reinsurance business within the Federal Republic of Germany. The guidance includes advice on (i) the formation under the Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), (ii) the business plan according to section 9 of the Insurance Supervision … Continue Reading
With the entry into force of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR), the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) will assume new duties in relation to the authorisation and supervision of data reporting services providers from 3 January 2018. However, … Continue Reading
CFTC Staff has published a Final Report on the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception (Final Report) addressing the level of swap dealing activity that is considered “de minimis” and therefore does not require an entity to register as a swap dealer with the CFTC. The Final Report provides updated data analysis, and summarizes public comments … Continue Reading
On 31 August 2016, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which it discusses the preliminary results of an investigation it launched earlier this year into banks’ transaction monitoring processes. According to DNB, many banks will need to improve their transaction monitoring processes. The purpose of transaction monitoring processes … Continue Reading
On 31 August 2016, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) announced that it has launched an investigation into the integrity risk appetite of banks, insurers, pension funds, trust offices and payment institutions. As part of its investigation, DNB will review the risks that are taken into account by the aforementioned financial institutions in … Continue Reading
On 5 July 2016, the Dutch Minister of Finance sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament including an interim report from the external evaluation commission which is in the process of evaluating the current structure of the integrity and suitability screening processes conducted by the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) and the Netherlands … Continue Reading
