On November 11, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) of the National Crime Agency (NCA) published its 2019 annual report on the functioning of the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) regime.
The UKFIU noted an increase in the number of SARs and defense against money laundering (DAML) requests:
On November 4, the US Securities and Exchange Commission extended their October 26, 2017 “no-action” letter in relation to the research provisions in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), so that it expires on July 3, 2023 rather than on July 3, 2020.
On November 11, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published three sets of technical advice on tiering, comparable compliance and fees charged to third-country central counterparties (TC-CCPs). The advice is directed towards the European Commission (EC) and concerns the revised European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 2.2).
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On November 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission extended temporary no-action relief to firms that are regulated in the United States in connection with their efforts to comply with the research provisions of the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). Under the extension, the SEC staff will not recommend enforcement action…
On October 31, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published five revised directions, extending the Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) to January 20, 2020. This coincides with the most recent extension of the Brexit deadline from October 31 to January 31, 2020 and is the fourth time that the TPR has been extended.…
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On October 31, the European Scrutiny Committee published a letter they received from John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, regarding potential equivalence arrangements that might be put in place between the UK and the EU following Brexit. The European Scrutiny Committee is a committee of the House of Commons and is chaired by Sir William Cash MP.…
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On October 25, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a new webpage setting out important information for UK cryptoasset businesses in the context of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CFT).
As announced in July 2019, the FCA will be the AML/CFT regulator for certain cryptoasset activities starting January 10, 2020. However, the scope of ‘cryptoasset activities’ is still to be determined by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), whose consultation on the matter closed on June 10.…
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On October 18, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its updated list of jurisdictions that have strategic anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) deficiencies for which they have developed an action plan with the FATF. The FATF updates this list three times a year, the last update being in June 2019.…
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On October 18, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a letter giving guidance on the distinction between suspicious activity reports (SARs) and suspicious transaction and order reports (STORs). The letter was sent in response to a request by UK Finance, a trade association, following a meeting of the ‘SARs Collaboration Working Group.’…
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On October 18, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published issue 62 of the Market Watch newsletter. The focus of the newsletter is on personal account dealing (PAD) and transaction reporting.
PAD is meant to be tightly controlled in order for firms to ‘minimize the risk’ of conflicts and market abuse. The newsletter states, ‘We are concerned how often we are seeing apparent breaches of PAD policies and the issues which have come to light as a result.’…
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