2020 brought significant changes to the regulatory landscape in the UK with Brexit and COVID 19 still causing operation issues for some firms. A lot of us had to rapidly develop and deploy new processes and procedures to ensure business continuity in an increasingly unstable market place. At Complyport, we [...]
On 6 January 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its first set of Financial Instruments Reference Data System (FIRDS) files following the end of the Brexit transition period. ESMA states that the FIRDS delta files contain information about: Termination of all UK financial instruments: (ISIN, MIC) records for MICs [...]
On 13 January 2021, ESMA issued a Public Statement to remind firms of the MiFID II requirements on the provision of investments services to retail or professional clients by firms not established or situated in the European Union (EU). With the end of the UK transition period on 31 December 2020, [...]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) provides compensation and protection to customers of authorised financial services firms that have failed. FSCS protection for UK-based customers of UK authorised firms will not change as a result of the UK leaving the European Union (EU). This means that in most cases existing [...]
The UK retail investments sector comprises many relatively small UK firms servicing primarily UK-based customers. If these firms have EEA-based customers (including UK expats), the FCA expects these firms to have taken steps to make sure they are able to continue servicing them now that the transition period has ended. [...]
On 7 January 2021, the FCA published the results of its coronavirus (Covid-19) financial resilience surveys. The surveys were sent to solo-regulated firms to inform the FCA of the impact of coronavirus on firms’ financial resilience. In response to the crisis, the FCA has been monitoring the effects of the economic downturn [...]
On 21 December, the FCA published a Policy Statement, final rule and guidance promoting better climate-related financial disclosures for UK premium listed commercial companies. The FCA has introduced a new rule in Listing Rule (LR) 9.8 requiring that commercial companies with a UK premium listing (including sovereign-controlled commercial companies) include [...]
The FCA is aware that some firms are offering investments in cryptoassets, or lending or investments linked to cryptoassets, that promise high returns. Investing in cryptoassets, or investments and lending linked to them, generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of product, [...]
After many years of preparation, 2021 is the critical year for firms to complete their transition away from LIBOR. The LIBOR administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration, is consulting on ceasing publication of all sterling LIBOR settings at the end of 2021, leaving just one year for firms to remove their remaining reliance on these benchmarks. This issue [...]
The FCA has published a report on change and innovation in the unsecured consumer credit market following a Review from its former Interim Chief Executive, Christopher Woolard, setting out a number of recommendations to the FCA, including the need to regulate the ‘buy-now-pay-later’ (BNPL) sector. According to the Woolard review, [...]
Aim of the Webinar 2020 was a year that demanded seismic shifts in the way organisations conducted their business. Most of us had to rapidly develop and deploy new processes and procedures to ensure business continuity in an increasingly unstable market place. Many firms are still dealing complex questions raised [...]
New Survey of Financial Services firms: 63% do not believe Government has done enough to resolve “equivalence issue” with EU Growing disquiet from financial services towards the Government at the failure to agree a clear regulatory framework with the EU from 2021. With weeks left before the UK leaves the [...]
Written by Mike Dalmiras The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020. Since then, EEA financial services firms in the UK have operated under existing regulatory rules in a Transition Period that expires on 31 December 2020. To ease the risk of a cliff edge break at 31 December, [...]
Written by Mike Dalmiras The Bank of England together with the FCA have written a letter to CEOs of insurance firms to remind them on the importance of being prepared for the end of the Brexit transitional period, which is set to end on the 31 December 2020, to minimise [...]
Written by Paul Grainger, CEO, Complyport. Many financial services firms face risks relating to Brexit that could prove costly and damaging. The larger banks, insurance companies and financial institutions have assessed Brexit risks and acted upon them where able to do so. However, this accounts for a small fraction of [...]
The Court of Justice of the EU (the “ECJ”) ordered Ireland to pay a fine of €2 million to the European Commission, due to Ireland’s failure to fully transpose the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (EU) 2015/849 (“MLD4”) on time. Under the EU treaties, the European Commission may take infringement proceedings [...]
ESMA has updated two statements on its approach to the application of key provisions of MiFID II/MiFIR and the Benchmark Regulation (BMR). The Impact of Brexit on MiFID II/MiFIR The Impact of Brexit on the BMR These statements update previous ones issued in March 2019 and October 2019 reflecting ESMA’s approach, should the UK [...]
On 2nd September 2019 ESMA issued its final report on the Guidelines on Liquidity Stress Testing (LST) in UCITS and AIFs. The report and its requirements came into effect on 30th September 2020. The new guidelines aim to promote financial stability by mitigating liquidity risk across Europe and ensuring supervisory convergence through [...]
What is the Fifth Money Laundering Directive? The Fifth Money Laundering Directive, commonly known as ‘5MLD’, was an amendment to the Fourth Money Laundering Directive. The amendment aimed to improve transparency of financial transactions and eliminate the anonymity associated with cryptocurrencies to prevent fraudulent activity and combat terrorist financing. EU [...]
The FCA updated its webpage on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) for solo-regulated firms with new information on good and bad practices in two key areas. The updates include tables setting out good and bad practice (using positive and negative indicators) relating to training staff on the conduct rules as [...]
