On April 4, the House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee published a report on the future UK/EU relationship following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. The report examines existing EU relationships with Canada, Ukraine, Switzerland, Norway and Turkey, the impact of trading on World Trade Organization terms (i.e., without a trading… Continue Reading
On March 28, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) following UK-EU agreement in relation to aspects of the transition period—notably the end date for the transition period of December 31, 2020.… Continue Reading
On March 22, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its Q&As on the European Union (EU) Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). The Q&As aim to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the day-to-day application of the BMR. The updated Q&As on the BMR add one new question and answer which considers the application of… Continue Reading
On March 19, the UK government and the European Commission (EC) published a draft withdrawal agreement (Latest Draft Agreement) which includes the legal text agreed by negotiators on the transition period following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU).… Continue Reading
Steven Maijoor, Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) spoke on March 20, regarding ESMA’s work during the past year. In his speech, Mr. Maijoor commented on ESMA’s work in relation to: supervisory convergence to limit the scope for regulatory arbitrage in light of the United Kingdom’s upcoming withdrawal from the European Union… Continue Reading
On March 9, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a short online survey for firms providing cross-border services into the UK from other European Union/European Economic Area (EEA) jurisdictions (“passporting”), or marketing funds in the UK. The survey follows the UK government’s December 2017 announcement that, if necessary, it will legislate to provide a… Continue Reading
On March 8, the UK government’s Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) published a statement guaranteeing Gibraltar financial services firms with continued access to UK markets from now until 2020. DExEU goes on to state that, in the meantime, the UK government will work closely with the government of Gibraltar to design a replacement… Continue Reading
On February 8, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets (DG FISMA) published a webpage containing a number of notices to financial services stakeholders highlighting the consequences of Brexit on: markets in financial instruments; banking and payment services; post-trade financial services; asset management; credit rating agencies; insurance/reinsurance; and statutory… Continue Reading
On March 8, the European Commission issued a press release unveiling a 23-step action plan on how to harness the opportunities presented by technology-enabled innovation in financial services (FinTech). The European Commission identifies two goals: (1) capitalizing on fast-moving progress in technology to improve the European Union’s economy, and (2) incentivizing a more competitive and… Continue Reading
On February 28, the European Commission (EC) published a draft withdrawal agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The draft agreement consists of six parts and represents the EU’s attempt to reflect in a binding legal text the principles of the political agreement reached between the UK and EU in… Continue Reading
On January 27, the House of Lords European Union Sub-Committee on Financial Affairs (Sub-Committee) published a report (Report) on its inquiry (Inquiry), launched in July 2017, into Brexit and the future of financial regulation and supervision.… Continue Reading
Further updating the Corporate &Financial Weekly Digest edition of December 8, 2017, as of January 8, there were still only 14 European Union (EU) Member States (i.e., only 50 percent of the EU) that have fully transposed the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) into their national law (as reported on the European… Continue Reading
On January 5, the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) published the UK government’s response to feedback on the DIT’s Trade White Paper on “Preparing for our future UK trade policy” published on October 9, 2017.… Continue Reading
On January 9, Michel Barnier, the European Union’s (EU’s) chief Brexit negotiator, delivered a speech at the “Trends Manager of the Year 2017” event in Brussels, and on January 10, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the UK’s Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, published a joint article that… Continue Reading
On January 8, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) published a blog post providing insight into how it is preparing for the UK’s departure from the European Union and how this will impact the use of the industry-standard ISDA Master Agreement.… Continue Reading
On December 20, 2017, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). Referencing the announcement made by the European Council that enough progress had been made in negotiations to begin discussions on future trading relations (for further information please see the Corporate & Financial Weekly… Continue Reading
On December 20, 2017, Philip Hammond, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a written statement in the UK House of Commons on behalf of Her Majesty’s Treasury (HM Treasury) announcing the Bank of England’s (BoE) plans to ensure continuity in financial services in the unlikely event of an agreement not being reached with the… Continue Reading
Following months of, at times, protracted negotiations, the UK and European Union (EU) negotiating teams have published the text of an agreement on the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. These negotiations have focused on three primary topics:… Continue Reading
On November 20, the European Commission published a speech on the future of the European Union given by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, at the Centre for European Reform. In the Speech, Mr. Barnier focused on Brexit and identified three keys to the European Union building a strong partnership with the United Kingdom:… Continue Reading
On October 16, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched the asset management authorization hub (Hub), a new section of its website. The Hub is designed to support new entrants to the UK asset management industry from start-up, through authorization and into the early stages of supervision.… Continue Reading
On September 29, Reuters published comments from European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Chairman Stephen Maijoor on the implementation of the significantly revised and updated Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II and its subordinate regulations and directives) and the implications of Brexit.… Continue Reading
On July 13, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published three opinions (Opinions) to support supervisory convergence (i.e., a consistent approach to authorization, supervision and enforcement) in the European Union in light of the potential relocation of entities from the United Kingdom to the remaining 27 member states of the EU (EU27) following Brexit.… Continue Reading
On July 10, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter (dated July 7) (Letter) from Steven Maijoor, ESMA chair, to Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission (EC) vice president, on the regulatory regimes for non-EU countries (known as “third countries”) where they are within ESMA’s area of authority.… Continue Reading
On June 13, the European Commission (EC) published a proposed amendment (Proposal) to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) aimed at enhancing the supervision of EU and non-EU based or “third-country” central counterparties (CCPs). The Proposal follows the suggested reforms to EMIR published in May 2017 (for further information, please see the Corporate & Financial… Continue Reading
