Financial services firms conduct their business activities across markets and borders, often performing services and holding data in locations other than those in which they interact with their clients. Over a decade after the financial crisis, their regulators remain under sustained public and political pressure to improve customer outcomes and punish poor conduct. When issues arise, those regulators frequently need to seek assistance from their global counterparts to be able to unravel what has occurred, irrespective of where it took place.Understanding how and when regulators interact with each other and with firms across borders, how firms are required, or expected, to respond, and how to handle multiple proceedings in different jurisdictions, is more critical than ever. Read more
On 16 September, the FCA published a speech, delivered at Bloomberg, on "Preparing for Brexit in financial services: the state of play". Although the FCA has already published significant guidance for firms, including on its Brexit web pages, this speech is significant insofar as it summarises the FCA's evolving domestic and international policy approach, in addition to identifying the key specific regulatory issues that remain unresolved in a no-deal scenario. Read more
The outcome of the June 2016 UK referendum on EU membership ushered in a period of increasing political turmoil in the UK. When I wrote an introduction to the first edition of this legal guide my colleagues and I had a clear view that leaving the EU would take far longer and be far more complex than most other commentators were saying, but I did not anticipate then that over three years later we would have so little clarity on the UK and EU’s long term relationship with each other. Nor that polarisation of views on all sides would have increased still further, leading to political deadlock. This updated Brexit Legal Guide addresses the legal position if the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal and picks out the key pieces of legislation that will soon be in force if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. I hope you will find it useful. 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 September 2019. Read more
On 6 August 2019 the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO“) published its Corporate Co-operation Guidance which forms part of the SFO’s internal Operational Handbook. The Guidance is designed to assist SFO staff with assessing the co-operation of organisations when considering charging decisions and the possibility of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPAs“). Read more
HM Treasury (“HMT“) has launched the first phase (a call for evidence on regulatory coordination) in its Future Regulatory Framework Review (“the Review“), originally announced by the then Chancellor in his Spring Statement and more recently repeated in his 2019 Mansion House speech. This Review is focused on improving the coordination between the various regulators/government … Read more
In our Corporate Crime & Investigations podcast we look to bring you timely and incisive commentary on key developments in the CC&I space. In this inaugural episode we take a look at the Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) landscape. In particular we set in context the latest DPA agreed between the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and … Read more
On 26 July, the FCA published its latest policy statement (PS19/20) on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), together with the near-final rules on the extension of the SMCR to most solo-regulated firms. Read more
