On March 8, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a policy statement on a new directory of financial services workers (Directory). This follows the FCA’s proposals to introduce the Directory and amend the existing financial services register (FS Register) in its consultation paper of July 2018 (as reported in the Corporate & Financial Weekly… Continue Reading
On March 8, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) hosted the first meeting of the Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF). A press release covering the event was published by the FCA on March 12.… Continue Reading
On March 4, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a document containing statements of policy on how it intends to operate the transparency regime under the retained UK version of the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (UK MiFIR), if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without an implementation period. The… Continue Reading
On February 21, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a speech by Megan Butler, the executive director of supervision—Investment, Wholesale and Specialists at the FCA, on firms’ progress in transitioning from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) to overnight risk-free rates (RFRs). The FCA and the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are in the… Continue Reading
On February 25, the Bank of England (BoE), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission published a joint statement on measures intended to ensure the continuity of UK-US derivatives trading and clearing activities following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit).… Continue Reading
On February 4, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Policy Statement on further remedies to promote competition in the asset management sector, following its asset management market study (AMMS) (see the June 30, 2017 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest for further details on the FCA’s Final Report on AMMS).… Continue Reading
On January 31, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a direction under the UK Securitization Regulations 2018 (a statutory instrument that implements the EU Securitization Regulation) setting out how relevant parties must report certain information to the FCA or PRA.… Continue Reading
On January 24, the Bank of England updated its financial market infrastructure supervision websites with interim lists of entities and systems that will enter into the various temporary or transitional arrangements on exit day should the United Kingdom leave the European Union with no implementation period. The lists consist of: Third-country central counterparties (CCPs) that… Continue Reading
On January 23, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), published a consultation paper on optimizing the senior managers and certification regime (SM&CR) (for further details on the SM&CR, see the March 11, 2016 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest). Its proposals intend to help firms adjust to the SM&CR and to identify some… Continue Reading
On January 23, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper proposing new guidance further clarifying the circumstances under which cryptoassets are to be regulated.… Continue Reading
On January 23, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an opinion, dated January 18, on position limits on ICE Low Sulphur Gasoil futures and options commodity contracts.… Continue Reading
On January 7, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that the notification window for the temporary permissions regime (TPR) is now open. In the lead-up to the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) on March 29 (Exit Day), the agreement on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal (Withdrawal Agreement) has not been ratified by… Continue Reading
On January 8, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper (CP19/2) on contractual certainty post-Brexit. In the lead-up to the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) on March 29 (Exit Day), the agreement on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal remains to be ratified by the UK Parliament. If ratification fails, this… Continue Reading
On January 3, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the Securitization Regulation Implementation (Fees for Third Party Verifiers) Instrument 2019 (FCA 2019/1) and Enforcement (EU Securitization Regulation) Instrument 2019 (FCA 2019/2) (collectively, the Securitization Instruments).… Continue Reading
On December 13, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a press release advising that it has updated its webpage on “preparing your firm for Brexit.”… Continue Reading
On December 13, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published finalized guidance on financial crime systems and controls relating to insider dealing and market manipulation (FG18/5).… Continue Reading
On December 17, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published issue 58 of its Market Watch newsletter. In this issue, the FCA details its findings on a review of the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR).… Continue Reading
On December 7, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper on product intervention measures for retail binary options. The FCA is proposing to prohibit the sale, marketing and distribution of binary options in or from the UK to retail consumers by creating new rules in its Conduct of Business sourcebook (COBS).… Continue Reading
On December 7, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper on restricting contract for difference (CFD) and other derivative products sold to retail consumers. In its consultation paper, the FCA is proposing to intervene in the CFD market to address allegedly poor conduct by firms offering CFD products to retail customers, and… Continue Reading
On December 4, the UK Securitization Regulations 2018 (UK Regulations) were published, together with an explanatory memorandum. The UK Regulations reflect the application of the EU Securitization Regulation in the UK. The EU Securitization Regulation harmonizes and reforms existing rules on due diligence, risk retention and disclosure for securitizations, securitizing entities and EU regulated institutional… Continue Reading
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
