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 [...]
The sale of pre-paid funeral plans is currently regulated by the Funeral Planning Authority (“FPA”), a self-regulatory body, rather than the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). Due to concern about the potential risk to consumers within this sector, the UK government is intending to bring all pre-paid funeral plans within the [...]
The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has published draft rules outlining how it will regulate Claims Management Companies (“CMCs”) when regulation passes to it on 1 April 2019. At the same time the Financial Ombudsman Service will become responsible for resolving disputes about CMCs. The claims management industry has grown substantially [...]
A draft statutory instrument (“the Order”) entitled Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2018 was laid before Parliament on 9 May 2018 and is awaiting formal approval by both Houses (Commons & Lords) before it becomes law. It ensures that Islamic finance instruments are treated equally [...]
The London Stock Exchange (“LSE”) is conducting a consultation on the market structure and trading hours for the International Order Book (“IOB”). IOB allows direct access to securities from 44 countries from across the globe, and is the largest market in Russian instruments outside of Moscow. The proposal is to [...]
Of relevance to: All regulated firms Key dates: Applicable from 17 May 2018 The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (“JMLSG”) has published revisions to sector 12: Asset finance and sector 17: Syndicated lending in Part II of its Guidance on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism [...]
Of relevance to: All firms In a speech by Megan Butler, Executive Director of Supervision – Investment, Wholesale and Specialists at the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), delivered at the Anti-Money Laundering TechSprint event on 22 May 2018, the FCA revealed that 2,100 firms, including all the major banks and life [...]
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 subject to the financial crime rules in SYSC 6.1.1R, and who arrange or execute transactions in financial markets Key dates: Comments to FCA by 28 June 2018 Proposed to be in effect on 1 October 2018 The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) is consulting on [...]
Of relevance to: All firms The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has set out its key priorities for the coming year in its Business Plan for 2018/19, along with its annual Sector Views. Inevitably, the priority for its discretionary activity is preparing for and implementing the changes resulting from European [...]
Of relevance to: All general insurance firms Key date: Immediate action required The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has warned it will take action against general insurance firms which are failing to properly implement rules introduced to increase transparency and encourage shopping around at renewal time. Rules introduced in April 2017 [...]
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 [...]
