On November 5, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a speech by Nausicaa Delfas, FCA Executive Director of International, on Brexit and maintaining market confidence. The speech covers a wide range of Brexit topics and provides an overview of the FCA’s current priorities relating to Brexit, including its work to ensure there is a… Continue Reading
On October 29, the UK “Cryptoasset Taskforce,” consisting of HM Treasury, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England, published its final report setting out the United Kingdom’s policy and regulatory approach to cryptoassets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in financial services. The Cryptoassets Taskforce was established in March 2018 as part… Continue Reading
On October 22, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published an evaluation paper that considers the impact that bringing seven additional benchmarks into its regulatory and supervisory regime had on the market. The paper evaluates the Benchmarks (Amendment) Instrument 2015 (Benchmarks Instrument), by which the FCA made amendments to the FCA Handbook to reflect the… Continue Reading
On October 22, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its webpage for bespoke position limits set for a number of commodity derivatives traded on UK trading venues, namely contracts traded on ICE Futures in the United Kingdom. Following ICE Futures’ recent update of its range of products, the FCA has made the following amendments… Continue Reading
On October 19, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a webpage announcing the launch of its “Green FinTech Challenge”, an initiative to support firms developing innovative products and services in the green, financial technology (FinTech) sector. The Challenge is open to start-ups, incumbents and technology providers. Firms developing broader ethical, environmental, social or governance… Continue Reading
On October 12, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper (October Consultation Paper) setting out its proposals to amend the Decision Procedure and Penalties (DEPP) manual and Enforcement Guide (EG) of the FCA Handbook. The FCA explains that the amendments are needed because of the changes introduced by the statutory instrument (SI),… Continue Reading
On October 15, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a discussion paper (Discussion Paper) on climate change and green finance. On the same day, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a consultation paper (Consultation Paper) on a draft supervisory statement (Draft Supervisory Statement) on enhancing the approach of banks and insurers to managing… Continue Reading
On October 5, HM Treasury published two draft statutory instruments (SIs) together with explanatory notes, which will make amendments to retained EU law relating to the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Trade Repositories (TRs).… Continue Reading
On October 10, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published two consultation papers relating to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit). The first, CP18/28, is the FCA’s first consultation paper on proposed changes to the FCA Handbook and to binding technical standards (BTS) resulting from Brexit. The second, CP18/29, focuses on the… Continue Reading
On October 5, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an opinion, dated September 24, on position limits on UK natural gas commodity futures and options contracts proposed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). ESMA received a notification from the FCA on February 7, under Article 57 of the revised Markets in Financial… Continue Reading
On September 19, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published Dear CEO letters that they jointly sent to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of major banks and insurance companies regulated in the United Kingdom, regarding their preparations for the transition from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) to alternative… Continue Reading
On September 24, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Issue 56 of Market Watch, its newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues. Issue 56 contains articles that provide a useful reminder in relation to obligations in relation to market abuse surveillance and payment for order flow (PFOF).… Continue Reading
On September 19, the UK’s House of Commons Treasury Committee (Treasury Committee) published a report on its inquiry into crypto-assets, launched in February 2018. The report is an update of what was provided on its website in May 2018 (for further details, see the May 25, 2018 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest). Key… Continue Reading
On September 10, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a video focused on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). The video emphasizes the importance of clarity of responsibilities and maintaining high standards under the SM&CR. For further details on the SM&CR, see the July 28, 2017 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.… Continue Reading
On September 14, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement and direction clarifying how a market operator based in the European Economic Area (EEA) may make an application to become a recognized overseas investment exchange (ROIE), following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union (Brexit).… Continue Reading
On July 5, the Bank of England (BoE), UK Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (together, the Supervisory Authorities) published a joint discussion paper on an approach to improve the operational resilience of firms and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) in the UK financial services sector.… Continue Reading
On August 8, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a “Dear CEO” letter concerning cross-border booking arrangements. In the letter, the FCA explains that the UK’s impending withdrawal from the EU has resulted in firms needing to put in place contingency plans that, when executed, will impact current business models, legal entity strategies and… Continue Reading
On July 24, HM Treasury published its draft version of the European Economic Passports Rights (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (draft Regulations). The purpose of the draft Regulations is to remove references to the passporting framework set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and in other UK legislation.… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
On July 4, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a press release announcing its proposal to introduce a new public directory of the status and history of individuals working in financial services (including information on their prior employers, any enforcement actions, prohibitions, etc.).… Continue Reading
On June 26, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement updating stakeholders on its preparations for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit). The FCA’s statement noted HM Treasury’s preparations for Brexit, which were then published in HM Treasury’s own press release, dated June 27.… Continue Reading
On June 15, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a policy statement and a supervisory statement on algorithmic trading. While the PRA’s policy only directly applies to PRA-regulated and dual-regulated firms, such as banks, UK Financial Conduct Authority-regulated firms (e.g., most proprietary trading firms) may wish to take into account the PRA’s expectations regarding… Continue Reading
On June 14, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a list of cooperation agreements it has in place in relation to the outsourcing of portfolio management. The list contains the supervisory authorities in three countries with which the FCA has cooperation agreements that meet the requirements of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 on… Continue Reading
