PRA

Subscribe to PRA via RSS

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 risk-free rates (RFRs).
Continue Reading FCA and PRA Published Dear CEO Letters on Transition From LIBOR to Risk-Free Rates

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 UK BoE, PRA and FCA Publish Paper on Operational Resilience of UK Financial Services Sector

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. The reason for this is if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal, there will be no agreed legal framework on which the passporting system can continue; therefore references in UK legislation to the passporting system would become “deficient” for the purposes of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (for further details, see the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of June 29, 2018).
Continue Reading HM Treasury Publishes Draft Version of the EEA Passport Rights Regulations 2018

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 United Kingdom for a limited period after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on March 29, 2019 (Exit Day).
Continue Reading Bank of England and PRA Publish Their Approach to Temporary Permissions Regime and Temporary Recognition Regime

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 governance and risk management in relation to their algorithmic trading activity.
Continue Reading PRA Publishes Policy and Supervisory Statements on Algorithmic Trading

On April 30,the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a policy statement regarding updates to the Pillar 2 reporting requirements of the EU Capital Requirements Regulation. The policy statement is relevant to banks, building societies and PRA-designated investment firms.
Continue Reading PRA Publishes Pillar 2 Reporting Requirements Policy Statement

On June 22, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/701) were presented to Parliament. The Regulations transpose elements of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and related Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) into UK law. Member States of the European Union are required to implement MiFID II and MiFIR into national law by July 3, before MiFID II and MiFIR go into effect on January 3, 2018. Other elements of MiFID II and MiFIR have been implemented in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2017 (SI 2017/488), which was made by HM Treasury in March 2017 having been presented to Parliament in draft form in February 2017.
Continue Reading MiFID II Implementing Legislation Published

On March 15, HM Treasury unveiled plans to create a new UK watchdog for tackling potential weaknesses in the supervisory system that criminals and terrorists may be trying to exploit.

The new “Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision” (OPBAS) will focus its work on accountancy and legal sectors with the goal of helping to improve the overall standards of supervision and ensure that supervisors (such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)) and law enforcement work together more effectively.
Continue Reading HM Government to Create Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision

On July 26, the UK Treasury Committee published a review of reports (Report) into the failure of the UK banking group Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). Notably, the Report includes a review of the enforcement functions of the UK Financial Services Authority (which was subsequently divided into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)) at the relevant time of HBOS’ collapse. and the Report concludes that a strong case exists to move those functions to a separate new enforcement body (as previously proposed in 2013 by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards).
Continue Reading UK Treasury Committee Calls for a New UK Enforcement Body