On 20 July 2021, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced a package of four legislative proposals (the “Package”) to strengthen its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) rules. 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 August 2021. Read more

It did not take long for the FCA to issue its first serious intervention connected to greenwashing and poor ESG product governance standards in the funds space. In a letter addressed to the chairmen of authorised fund managers (“AFMs”), published on 19 July 2021, the FCA states that it is “essential that funds marketed with a sustainability and ESG focus describe their investment strategies clearly and any assertions made about their goals are reasonable and substantiated”. Read more

On 20 July 2021, the FCA published a long awaited consultation paper seeking views on proposed amendments to address concerns with the UK Packaged Retail and Insurance based Investment Products (“PRIIPs”) Regulation (“UK PRIIPs Regulation”), including the lack of clarity on the scope of the UK PRIIPs Regulation, misleading performance scenarios and summary risk indicators, and concerns with the transaction costs calculation methodology. Read more

On 15 July, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its 2021/22 Business Plan. In our briefing, we highlight key points from Mr Rathi's speech, drawing on additional context provided by the Business Plan. We then discuss the priorities which FCA has set out in the Business Plan itself. Read more

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has updated its policy statement on Listing Rule enforcement, emphasising as one of its key priorities the holding accountable of individuals that are responsible for discharging duties in connection with listing matters. Read more

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) has featured heavily in speeches by our UK regulators in recent months.  The FCA, PRA and Bank of England (the regulators) have now published a discussion paper (DP21/2) which aims to kick-start discussion on how the financial services sector, with the help of the regulators, can "accelerate the pace of meaningful change" in improving D&I within financial services firms. Read more

On 21 June 2021 the governments of the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and the United States made a joint statement announcing co-ordinated new sanctions on Belarus. The new sanctions were imposed in response to the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to Minsk, Belarus on 23 May 2021 and the subsequent arrest of opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich, and his companion Sofia Sapega, and to ongoing concerns about the Belarusian regime’s attacks on human rights and the suppression of democracy under its president Alexander Lukashenko. Read more