In an attempt to implement the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”)’s recent opinion on asset segregation and depositary delegation, the EU Commission published two draft Delegated Regulations with the aim of amending UCITS V Delegated Regulation (Ares(2018)2778673) and AIFMD Delegated Regulation (Ares(2018)2778659) relating to the safe-keeping duties of depositaries. [...]
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 [...]
The government have set out their approach to financial services legislation after Brexit under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act (“EUWA”), which forms part of the wider work the government is undertaking to prepare for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (“Brexit”), with an implementation period that will start on 29 [...]
The Money Market Funds Regulations 2018 (the “UK MMF Regulations”) are made in relation to EU Regulation 2017/1131 on money market funds (“MMF Regulation”) which will apply in the UK from 21 July 2018. They make amendments to ensure that the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) is able to authorise money [...]
On 12 June, London’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre was home to the FCA Asset Management Conference 2018. The conference began with a keynote speech by Andrew Bailey, the Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), in which, among setting the regulatory agenda for the coming year for asset managers, [...]
The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) has published its Final Report on Guidelines on certain aspects of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID II”) suitability requirements. The assessment of MiFID II suitability is one of the most important requirements for investor protection in the MiFID framework. It applies [...]
Of relevance to: All regulated firms Key dates: Royal Assent 23 May 2018 The Data Protection Act 2018 replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 and provides a comprehensive legal framework for data protection in the UK, supplemented by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) until the UK leaves the European [...]
Of relevance to: All regulated firms Key date: Royal Assent 23 May 2018 The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 received Royal Assent on 23 May 2018, creating a new sanctions regime for the UK after Brexit, needed to keep UK Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (“CTF”) measures up [...]
Of relevance to: All firms providing advice on or distributing retail investment products and financial instruments to retail clients Key date: With immediate effect Two Finalised Guidance publications (FG12/15: Retail Distribution Review: independent and restricted advice and FG14/1: Supervising retail investment advice: inducements and conflicts of interest) and a factsheet [...]
Of relevance to: All financial service providers authorised within the EU Investors seeking information on whether a financial service provider is authorised within the European Union (“EU”) will now be able to do so on the new companies’ portal provided by the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”). The ESMA [...]
Of relevance to: All firms processing personal data, including data controllers currently registered with the ICO Key date: Applicable from 25 May 2018 The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) removes the requirement for data controllers to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”). However, new UK regulations, with effect from [...]
Of relevance to: All firms Key date: Adoption by July 2020 A fifth revision of the Money Laundering Directive (“5MLD”) – the current European Directive 2015/849 is the fourth revision, which took into account the Financial Action Task Force recommendations of 2012 – was initially proposed in July 2016, [...]
Of relevance to: All firms involved in the production of prospectuses when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market Key date: 21 January 2019 The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) has published the first part of its Technical Advice (“TA”) under the [...]
Of relevance to: All firms providing contracts for differences and/or binary options to retail investors Key date: Applicable from two months, for CFDs, and one month, for binary options, after their publication in the Official Journal of the EU ‘in the coming weeks’ The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) [...]
Of relevance to: All firms Key date: Are you ready for 25 May 2018? Are you ready? On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) will come into effect for all firms operating within Europe as well as firms outside of Europe which have data come in from, [...]
Of relevance to: All firms affected by MiFID/MiFIR, MAR, BMR and/or CSDR Key date: Applicable from 23 March 2018 The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) has updated its Questions and Answers (“Q&As”) on the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”), the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation [...]
Of relevance to: All firms in the UK’s financial services sector Key date: 29 March 2019 The Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (“Draft UK EU Withdrawal Agreement”) was published on [...]
Of relevance to: All UCITS Management Companies, AIFMs and those managing AIFs Key date: Adoption planned by May 2019 The European Commission (“EC”) has published a proposed directive and a proposed regulation amending Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (“AIFMs”) and Directive 2009/65/EC on Undertakings for Collective Investment in [...]
Of relevance to: All firms solely regulated by the FCA that passport into the UK (either via a branch or on a cross-border services basis) or market funds in the UK Key date: Survey closes on 11 May 2018 The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), via a specific webpage entitled ‘Survey [...]
Of relevance to: All firms carrying out algorithmic trading in wholesale markets The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and Prudential Regulation Authority (“PRA”) have been reviewing firms’ algorithmic trading activity and issued supervisory publications. For firms solo-regulated by the FCA, please refer to the FCA supervisory publication. Firms regulated by the [...]
