On 23 June 2020, the FCA published its long-awaited Discussion Paper on a new prudential regime for MiFID investment firms, to be based on the EU Investment Firms Directive and Regulation (“IFD” and “IFR” respectively), which are due to be implemented in June 2021 (see our blog post). On the same date, HM Treasury published a related Policy Statement on prudential standards in the Financial Services Bill, which complements and sets the parameters for the FCA's approach as outlined in the Discussion Paper. Read more

ESMA published, on 5 June 2020, new final guidelines on certain aspects of the compliance function requirements under the recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II)^[1]. The new guidelines replace those issued in 2012, and have been updated in accordance with MiFID II requirements - specifically article 16(2) of MiFID II and article 22 of the MiFID II Delegated Regulation^[2]. Read more

On 16 June 2020, Charles Randell, Chair of the FCA and PSR, delivered a speech addressing a virtual roundtable of bank chairs, hosted by UK Finance. Mr Randell considered the immediate impact of Covid-19 on the financial services sector in the UK and the FCA’s role in the recovery of the industry. Read more

This post gives a high level summary of the International Organization of Securities Commissions' (IOSCO's) consultation on proposed updates to the 2005 Outsourcing Principles for Market Intermediaries and the 2009 Outsourcing Principles for Markets, and includes a link to our briefing that focuses in more detail on: the scope of application; IOSCO’s definition of outsourcing; intragroup arrangements; concentration risk; and access and audit rights. Read more

Following Covid-19, the message from the UK financial regulators regarding payments firms and payments innovation has stepped up. Recently, the Bank of England published a speech given by Christina Segal-Knowles (Executive Director, Financial Market Infrastructure Directorate) on 11 June in which she discussed the emerging themes and challenges for payments firms and payments innovation. Read more

The High Court has held that an auditor required to produce documents to its regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (“FRC”), must form its own view on whether documents are privileged and can therefore be withheld on that ground, regardless of whether the privilege is that of the auditor or its underlying client. Read more

The High Court has held that a bank waived privilege in all contemporaneous communications with its lawyers relating to particular transactions that were alleged to be a sham, as the bank had deployed the lawyers’ advice that the transactions were lawful in order to support its case on the merits. Read more

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a roadmap for implementation of its mandates arising from the Investment Firms Directive and Regulation (IFD/IFR). The IFD/IFR entered into force on 26 December 2019 and will apply from 26 June 2021. Read more