Are you ready to be licensed? MAS issues payment service provider licence application forms

As 2019 draws to a close, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been busy putting the finishing touches on its new regulatory framework for payment services. The Payment Services Act 2019 (PS Act) will commence on 28 January 2020, changing the payment services landscape in Singapore. In particular, payment service providers will only need one licence to conduct specified payment services, and MAS’ regulatory ambit will be extended to also cover digital payment token (DPT) services (“dealing in DPT”, i.e. buying or selling DPT such as Bitcoin, and/or “facilitating the exchange of DPT”, i.e. establishing or operating a DPT exchange) and merchant acquisition services. Read more

Regulation in Focus Podcast Episode 2 – December 2019

The second episode of Regulation in Focus, our podcast series of short, sharp insights into regulatory issues that matter to you, features London partners Hywel Jenkins (contentious financial services regulatory) and Christine Young (employment) discussing our top 5 tips for dealing with employee misconduct investigations in a regulated context. Read more

Building Operational Resilience: UK regulators launch consultations

On 5 December 2019, the Bank of England (BoE), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a number of publications on operational resilience, marking the launch of a consultation phase which will inform how the UK authorities seek to embed the consideration of operational resilience into the regulatory framework. Read more

Corporate Crime update – December 2019

Welcome to the December 2019 edition of our corporate crime update - our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Read more

FCA Deploys Temporary Intervention Powers to Ban Mass Marketing of Mini-Bonds

On 26 November 2019, the FCA announced that it would use its temporary intervention powers to restrict the mass marketing of speculative mini-bonds to retail customers. Although the intervention will allow the promotion of unlisted speculative mini-bonds to sophisticated and/or high net worth individuals, marketing materials which are produced by or approved by an authorised firm will also have to include a specific risk warning and disclose costs or payments made to third parties that are deducted from investors' money. Read more