On December 2, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a draft transitional direction alongside an explanatory note, for share trading obligation under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (600/2014) (MiFIR) in preparation for the end of the Brexit transition period (the Direction).
Continue Reading FCA Publishes Draft Transitional Direction for Share Trading Obligation Under MiFIR

On November 9, the Chancellor of the UK’s HM Treasury announced its intention to provide equivalence decisions to European Economic Area (EEA) States and Member States of the European Union (EU) that will come into effect at the end of the Brexit transition period (the Announcement).
Continue Reading HM Treasury Announced Equivalence Decisions for EEA and EU Member States

On October 20, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Bank of England (BoE) announced that they had signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the cooperation and exchange of information to preserve the benefits of cross-border clearing activity. The MOU emphasizes the importance of supervision of central counterparties (CCPs) and clarifies that the

On May 13, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) announced that they will resume full supervisory engagement with dual regulated firms on their London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) transition progress from June 1, 2020 (the Announcement). Such engagement will include data reporting at the end of Q2 in light of the PRA and FCA suspended transition data reporting at the end of Q1 for dual regulated firms and the Banks of England’s (BoE) Financial Stability Report on May 7, 2020 regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue Reading BOE, FCA and PRA Update on LIBOR

On March 24, a draft copy of the Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment etc. and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (the Regulations) was published and laid before Parliament with an explanatory memorandum.
Continue Reading UK Parliament Considers Draft Brexit Statutory Instrument Relating to EMIR

On March 10, the United Kingdom’s Treasury Select Committee (TSC) released letters written to the CEO of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Governor of the Bank of England (the Bank) and the responses to those letters. The TSC wrote to the FCA and the Bank in October 2019 and February respectively, and the responses were received in late-February.
Continue Reading Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG): TSC Releases Correspondence with UK Regulators

On July 3, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper (CP19/22) on prohibiting the sale, marketing and distribution to retail clients of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) referencing certain types of cryptoassets by firms acting in, or from, the UK.
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On July 24, the Bank of England (BoE) published a webpage on its and the UK Prudential Regulation Authority’s (PRA’s) approach to the temporary permissions regime (TPR) and the temporary recognition regime (TRR).

The TPR aims to enable EEA firms currently using a passport operating in the United Kingdom to continue their activities in the United Kingdom for a limited period after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on March 29, 2019 (Exit Day).
Continue Reading Bank of England and PRA Publish Their Approach to Temporary Permissions Regime and Temporary Recognition Regime

On July 16, a draft of the Financial Regulators’ Powers (Technical Standards etc.) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 was published. The publication of the draft regulations follows the making of the first delegated legislation under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 earlier this month (discussed in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of July 13, 2018) and provides one of the first indications of the UK approach to “onshoring” EU legislation as part of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit).
Continue Reading Draft Financial Regulators’ Powers Regulations 2018 Published