On 24 September 2019, the Executives’ Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP) published its study on the implications of benchmark reform across the East Asia and Pacific region (Study), including the effects of LIBOR discontinuation, the EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) and the ongoing reform of local benchmarks.The Study provides important insight into market participants’ varying levels of awareness of and preparedness for benchmark reform, as well as valuable guidance as to future regulatory developments we are likely to see from regulators keen to ensure regional markets are well equipped to handle these reforms. The Study also refers extensively to Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work on the BMR with ASIFMA. Read more
In a recent decision, the Commercial Court has upheld a financial institution’s decision to exercise its contractual right to close a customer’s accounts and terminate its relationship without notice, where the financial institution had a suspicion that its customer’s accounts were being used for money laundering purposes: N v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc … Read more
First published on Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence on 15 July 2019. This third article of a series on cryptoassets focuses on personal account dealing (PAD) policies and procedures. This topic is important not only for firms themselves but also for individual staff who have entered into or are considering entering into cryptoasset transactions on their … Read more
In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation for August 2019. Read more
As financial institutions in Australia face into the culture and conduct storm that has engulfed the UK for the past decade, UK firms can be confident that they have already largely negotiated the regulatory waves which have followed the Banking Royal Commission in Australia. However, culture and customer treatment are themes that continue to be … Read more
On 28 June 2019, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it will issue up to five new digital bank licences, which will effectively open digital banking business to non-bank players in Singapore. Announcing the measures at the 46th Annual Dinner of The Association of Banks in Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and … Read more
Authors: Mark Ife and Paul Ellerman Agreement has now been reached between the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council on the final texts of two Directives which will impact on the remuneration provisions which apply to banks and investment firms. The first is the Investment Firms Directive (IFD), which will introduce a new prudential … Read more
Yesterday’s announcements on the terms agreed for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU say relatively little about the future framework for cross-border trade in goods or services. More detail is expected on this next week. The draft withdrawal agreement provides that a transition period will continue until 31 December 2020. Although this was provisionally agreed … Read more
