On October 13, the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued two no-action letters that provide limited relief from swap transaction and pricing data reporting requirements for specific derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) and market participants that take part in upcoming DCO auctions intended to assist in transitioning certain cleared swaps
data reporting
FCA and PRA Publishes Dear CEO Letter on Final Preparations for the End of Brexit Transition Period
On October 9, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) jointly published a Dear CEO letter to regulated firms regarding final preparations for the end of the Brexit transition period (the Letter).
The key areas addressed by the FCA and PRA in the Letter include:
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FCA Publishes Newsletter Market Watch 65
On September 7, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the 65th edition of its Market Watch newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues (the Newsletter). The latest issue provides market participants with guidance on (1) FCA information confidentiality requirements; (2) documents subject to legal professional privilege (LPP); and (3) highlighting certain data issues when transaction reporting under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 (MiFIR).
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FINRA Updates COVID-19 FAQs
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has updated its FAQs regarding coronavirus-related regulatory relief to address:
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BOE, FCA and PRA Update on LIBOR
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.
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SEC Grants Temporary Exemption From Certain Requirements of Rule 606 of Regulation NMS
On March 25, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an Order granting the application by the Financial Information Forum (FIF) and Securities Traders Association (STA) for a temporary exemption from certain requirements of Rule 606 of Regulation NMS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which requires broker-dealers to disclose certain information regarding the handling…
FCA Updates Webpage on SFTR Approach to Reporting Requirements
On March 26, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its webpage on the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) to confirm its approach to supervisory reporting in the light of COVID-19.
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HMT Responds to MLD5 Consultation
On January 23, HM Treasury (HMT) published its response (the Response) to the Consultation on the Transposition into UK law of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive (the Consultation). The Consultation closed in June 2019.
The Fifth Money Laundering Directive (MLD5) is primarily focused on expanding the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) regime into new areas such as crypto-assets and art dealers. It became operational in the UK on January 10 (for more information, please see the January 10 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest).
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Brexit: UK Updates TPR Start Date
On January 28, the UK Government published the Financial Services (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2020 (the Regulations). This is in response to the passing by the UK Parliament of the Withdrawal Act on Thursday last week, and in anticipation of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (and start of the implementation period) on January 31 (for more information, please see the January 24 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest).
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FCA Publishes Market Watch Newsletter
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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