The World Health Organisation (“WHO”) has now officially classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a Pandemic. This means that there is evidence of uncontrolled spread from human to human in multiple countries within a WHO region and in two or more regions. The UK Government’s emergency planning and management committee known [...]
In 2016, as a response to the many risks posed by shadow banking, the EU introduced the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (“SFTR”), a set of new requirements aimed at improving the transparency of Securities Financing Transactions (“SFTs”). Is your firm affected by SFTR? The Regulation captures: EU entities that enter [...]
Pension Transfers in the Headlines Again… What is the issue? The FCA has issued the results of its recent work on the standards of pension transfer advice and has concluded that in less than 50% of cases reviewed was the advice given suitable. The levels of unclear (23%) and unsuitable [...]
On 25 November 2018, the EU Council of Ministers met in Brussels and agreed to the draft UK Withdrawal Agreement. The draft Withdrawal Agreement must now be ratified by the UK Parliament and assuming it does so, subsequently by the European Parliament. The UK Parliament will debate the Withdrawal Agreement [...]
The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has been steadily building up their International Division to ensure they can drive forward the policy and deliver the work that is required, after Brexit, once the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union (“EU”). As the UK is due to leave the EU in [...]
Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs) and MiFID firms need to consider the impact that Brexit will have on their business in the light of recent opinion issued by ESMA to relevant EU national regulators. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued an opinion on 31 May 2017 to EU [...]
Mentioning Artificial Intelligence (AI) prompts complex reactions in humans. These reactions are often tinged with fear about redundancy, and the reporting of AI is often in a controversial setting. This is perfectly illustrated by recent events. On 26th of December last year, Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company announced 34 workers [...]
Yes, we’ve all done it. We’ve done it with WhatsApp, we’ve done it with SMS and, yes, we’ve done it with email, and, worst, we’ve done it with work email. In a hurry to get an email sent, the wrong recipient gets selected from the helpful drop-down on the address [...]
By now we will all be aware of the decision of the High Court in Gina Miller & Deir Tozetti Dos Santos v The Secretary of State to the effect that the UK government does not have the power to give notice under Article 50 for the UK to withdraw from [...]
Over the past few months there have been a number of 2016 surveys looking at various aspects of information security, all drawing comparisons on the previous annual surveys, all highlighting trends. A sobering take-home from the majority of reports is that they back up strident headlines warning of the rise [...]
If you feel like your business is constantly fixing problems and you’re worried about your legal or regulatory obligations, then perhaps your Governance, Risk management and Compliance (GRC) is weak and systems need improving. Here’s what we would suggest you look at: 1. Errors Your firm is making errors, whether [...]
Complyport, ComplySci and Intersol Global are thrilled to have partnered for this Whistleblowing webinar on 12 July 2016 Contributed commentary; ComplySci Whistleblowing in 2016 This subject is clearly top of mind for many compliance managers as over 200 professionals registered last Thursday 12 July to hear about the challenges and potential solutions [...]
For a long time now, email has been the way firms share documents. It is an easy to use and ubiquitous technology. Sending a document as an email attachment with track changes has been a long-standing means of document collaboration. Email does not, however, always provide a solution. What if [...]
In a recent McKinsey Quarterly article, Where machines could replace humans—and where they can’t (yet) (download here), the financial sector is shown to display surprisingly high potential for automation. The report is one of a series reflecting research McKinsey has been carrying out into the growing automation in the workplace. [...]
In March 2016 the Treasury and the FCA reported following a major review into financial advice to establish how the market can function better for consumers. Having thrown out the old financial advice model based on commission, hidden costs and hidden conflicts of interest, politicians and regulators have realised something [...]
Brexit and its Implications The votes have been counted and ‘Brexit’ has won the day. The UK electorate has voted 52% to 48% to leave the European Union (EU). The Prime Minister David Cameron has announced he will resign in the Autumn as soon as a new Leader of the [...]
The votes have been counted and ‘Brexit’ has won the day. Whilst the Government considers what exactly that means for the UK as a whole, and what needs to be done – the run up to the Brexit vote seemed to be heavy on aspirations but light on detail – [...]
The run up to the Brexit vote seems to be heavy on aspirations but light on detail – what might be the implications for the financial services sector. In terms of breaking away from the EU the, admittedly high-level, process can be found in the Treaty on European Union (TEU), [...]
Of relevance to: Firms providing discretionary and/or advisory portfolio management services Suitability in Wealth Management: Further FCA Visits An article in Regulatory Roundup 71 (pdf) drew attention to a thematic review (TR15/12) that the FCA had published on wealth management firms and private banks concerning the suitability of investment portfolios. The [...]
In the last few weeks alone, we have seen massive password files allegedly posted online from LinkedIn (117 million users in June), Twitter (32 million users in June) and MySpace (427 million users late May). While these data files may have been the result of past breaches, password and log-on [...]
