On January 13, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released the findings of their multi-firm review of how asset management firms select, use and oversee the tools and models they use to manage portfolios (the Review).
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FCA Updates SM&CR Webpage
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
On December 13, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its webpage for the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) for solo-regulated firms. In particular, the FCA added two new sections to the landing page: “Ongoing requirements for firms;” and “Other considerations.”…
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FCA Publishes SM&CR Materials
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
On December 9, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) was extended to around 47,000 UK-based financial services firms. …
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SM&CR to Apply to Benchmark Administrators
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
On November 29, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper on applying the Senior Managers Regime (SMR) to benchmark administrators. (For more information on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, or SM&CR, please see the July 28, 2017 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.)
SM&CR already applies to banks and insurers, and will apply to most other UK financial services firms as of December 9. Because benchmark administrators only began to be supervised by the FCA in January 2018, the SMR will apply to them starting December 7, 2020. This gives these firms one extra year to prepare for the regime.…
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FCA Supports SEC “No Action” Extension for MiFID II
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
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.
FCA Extends Brexit Deadlines
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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FCA Publishes Cryptoasset AML/CFT Webpage
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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FCA Publishes SAR and STOR Guidance
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
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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FCA Publishes Market Watch Newsletter
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
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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FCA Updates Change of Control Webpages
Posted in Financial Markets, UK Developments
On October 14, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published new and updated change of control webpages, including a new page on preparing change of control notifications, and a new page with links to the forms required to submit a notification for a change of control.
The FCA noted that firms sometimes submit a business plan along with their change of control notification, and the new webpages also include a business plan template with the FCA’s guidance on areas where it believes such business plans should be more detailed. …
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