On 1 April 2019 the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report to the European Commission (EC) setting out its technical advice on the impact of the inducements and costs and charges disclosure requirements under MiFID II (Directive 2014/65/EU). ESMA expresses some concerns over the efficacy of the current inducements disclosure regime … Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for April 2020. Read more

The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the 2020 Budget to Parliament on 11 March 2020. This includes a package of related policy documents, many of which highlight planned reforms to the financial services sector. Of particular note for banks and investment firms is the policy statement on prudential standards published by HM Treasury, which confirms … Read more

On 26 February 2020, the UK Government published its approach to UK’s future relationship with the EU. The sections on financial services in the UK’s approach document are set out below: Chapter 16: Financial Services The Agreement should promote financial stability, market integrity, and investor and consumer protection for financial services, providing a predictable, transparent, … Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for March 2020. Read more

In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for February 2020. Read more

The FCA has today written to the UK’s major retail banks, asking them to provide evidence of how they have arrived at their new overdraft interest rates, which have all been set at around 40%. The FCA also asked the banks to clarify how they will deal with customers who could be worse off following the changes, and expects firms to take “positive steps” to helps these customers – for example, by reducing or waiving interest, or offering a continuation of overdraft borrowing at current rate of interest. Read more

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)’s executive director for banking conduct, Mr Alan Au, recently delivered a speech on bank culture at the 1LoD Summit in Hong Kong. Although the HKMA is still in the process of reviewing the self-assessments submitted by the 30 AIs, Mr Au took the opportunity of the 1LoD Summit to provide the HKMA’s initial observations on how authorised institutions have approached culture reform, and highlighted some good practices and common issues of concern observed. Read more