HM Treasury has announced that Charles Randell CBE will become chair of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator from April 1, 2018. He will replace the outgoing chair, John Griffith-Jones.

View HM Treasury's announcement.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that Norman Williams has been appointed Deputy Comptroller for Economic and Policy Analysis.  Mr. Williams, who joined the OCC in 2006, will succeed Gary Whalen who has retired, and will oversee the Industry and Regional Analysis, International Analysis and Banking Condition and Policy Analysis divisions at the OCC, which conduct research and analysis with respect to financial and economic risks faced by national banks and federal savings institutions.  Prior to his time at the OCC, Mr. Williams served as the Chief of the Economic Analysis Section at the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  This appointment took effect on January 7, 2018.

View the announcement of Mr. Williams’s appointment.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has published two consultations, seeking feedback on draft documents setting out its regulatory approach to authorization and competition. The two documents, once finalized, will form part of a series of formal approach documents explaining the FCA's approach to regulation in more depth. They should be read alongside the FCA's Mission document, which was first published in October 2016 and most recently updated in November 2017.

In the consultation on its approach to authorization, the FCA explains the public value and purpose of requiring authorization to conduct regulated financial services activities and the FCA's current approach to authorizing firms and individuals. The FCA seeks feedback on four questions: (i) understanding of the Threshold Conditions that firms and individuals must meet for authorization, and any areas where the FCA might be more specific; (ii) how the FCA might improve its approach to supporting firms and individuals to meet the minimum standards and how the FCA might better promote competition; (iii) whether the FCA has suggested the correct commitments to firms making authorization applications and what other commitments could be made; and (iv) whether the FCA has prioritized the right strategic goals, and, if not, what additional goals could add the most public value to the FCA's work.

Read more.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the appointment by the Federal Reserve Board of Dr. Rosa Gil as a Class C director of the FRBNY.

View the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond press release regarding the appointment.
 

The Federal Reserve Board announced that it was appointing Kenneth Montgomery as its payment security strategy leader. In this role, Mr. Montgomery will chair the Secure Payments Task Force, and lead the Federal Reserve’s efforts to increase security and safety of the U.S. Payments system.

View Federal Reserve press release regarding the appointment.
 

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a Policy Statement setting out new Handbook rules and guidance to implement some of the recommendations arising from the Financial Advice Market Review launched by the FCA jointly with HM Treasury in August 2015.

Read more.

Senate Banking Committee overwhelmingly approved the nomination of Jerome Powell as Fed Chairman by a vote of 22-1, with only Sen. Elizabeth Warren in opposition. The nomination now goes to the full Senate.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond named Thomas Barkin as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Barkin’s appointment will take effect on January 1, 2018. Mr. Barkin was appointed by the eligible directors of the Richmond Fed, and approved by the Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Barkin had previously served as a member of the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 2009 to 2014.

View the Federal Reserve Bank of New York  press release regarding the appointment.

Following its 2015 Call for Evidence on the EU regulatory framework for financial services, the Commission has issued a report on progress on the targeted follow-up measures to the Call for Evidence, which was set out in a November 2016 Communication. Alongside the progress report, the European Commission has launched a consultation on supervisory reporting requirements. Some of the respondents to the Call for Evidence had highlighted overlaps and inconsistencies between reporting requirements in certain pieces of financial legislation, a reportedly excessive number of requirements, as well as, at times, insufficient clarity as to what needs to be reported and an insufficient use of international standards. Other respondents also highlighted the costs (including IT costs) of implementing reporting requirements and a number of respondents had mentioned that many EU Member States gold-plate the requirements.

The consultation seeks feedback in a number of areas, with the aim of gaining evidence on the cost of compliance with existing EU level supervisory reporting requirements, as well as on the consistency, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and added value of those requirements. The feedback from the consultation will provide important guidance to the Commission when preparing, if considered appropriate, a formal Commission proposal.

Comments on the consultation are invited by February 28, 2018.

View the Consultation Paper.

View Progress Report on the Call for Evidence.

View the November 2016 Communication.

View Press Release.

The Trump Administration announced that Marvin Goodfriend has been nominated as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Dr. Goodfriend is nominated to fill the vacancy from the resignation of Sarah Bloom Raskin, and if confirmed, Dr. Goodfriend would serve a 14 year term.

View the White House press release regarding Dr. Goodfriend’s nomination.

Joseph Otting was sworn in by Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency. Comptroller Otting was previously confirmed by the US Senate on November 16, 2017. Comptroller Otting replaces Keith Noreika, who had been serving as Acting Comptroller of the Currency since May 2017.

View the OCC press release regarding Comptroller Otting.

Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve Board submitted her resignation as Chair and as a Member of the Federal Reserve Board. Chair Yellen’s resignation will become effective upon the swearing in of the new Chair.

View the Federal Reserve press release regarding Chair Yellen’s announcement.

The US Senate voted to confirm (54-43) the nomination of Joseph Otting as Comptroller of the Currency. Once officially sworn in, Otting will replace Acting Comptroller Keith Noreika.

US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sent a memo to his staff announcing that he plans to leave his position by the end of the month. An interim or permanent successor has not yet been named although it has been widely reported that President Trump is considering naming OMB Director Mick Mulvaney as interim CFPB Director.

The US Department of the Treasury announced Kenneth A. Blanco as Director of FinCEN, a bureau in Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Blanco has 28 years of prosecutorial service, most recently serving as acting assistant attorney general of the US Department of Justice Criminal Division. FinCEN has been led by an acting director since Jennifer Shasky Calvery stepped down in May 2016. Blanco is expected to transition to his new role within the next month.
 

The US Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that President and Chief Executive Officer William C. Dudley plans to retire in mid-2018, to ensure that a successor is appointed before his term ends  in January 2019.  Dudley joined the FRBNY in 2007 as executive vice president and head of the Markets Group, and was named the 10th president and CEO of the FRBNY on January 27, 2009. He was appointed for his first full term as president and CEO in 2011 and reappointed in 2016. The President of the FRBNY is limited to a ten-year term, and contemporaneously serves as Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve’s top policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research, will step down effective December 31, 2017, one year ahead of the expiration of his term.  Berner was the first director of the agency, which was created by the Dodd-Frank Act with the mission of collecting and analyzing data across financial agency jurisdictions. Berner was confirmed by the Senate on January 1, 2013, for a six-year term. Berner’s successor has not yet been named.

Randal K. Quarles was ceremonially sworn in as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and as Vice Chair for Supervision.  Following confirmation by the Senate, Vice Chair Quarles took office on October 13, 2017, to fill an unexpired term ending on January 31, 2018. His term as Vice Chair for Supervision ends on October 13, 2021.

On October 11, 2017, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation was granted permission by the Court of Appeal to appeal the High Court's ruling articulating a significant restriction on the scope of legal professional privilege (in particular, litigation privilege). The Law Society of England & Wales - which has expressed concern about the High Court's ruling and its implication for when and how companies and their employees are protected by privilege - has since announced that it has applied to the Court for permission to intervene in the appeal.

Although the ENRC case was brought by the UK Serious Fraud Office, the High Court's ruling - and the future decision by the Court of Appeal - will impact upon the way investigations are conducted in the context of (prospective) criminal prosecutions by the UK Financial Conduct Authority as well.

Read more. 

The European Commission has published legislative proposals designed to strengthen and further integrate the supervisory framework of the European Union. The proposals build on contributions to the Commission's public consultation in autumn 2016 on the European Systemic Risk Board and its public consultation in spring 2017 on the European Supervisory Authorities – the European Banking Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority.

Read more.

The European Commission has launched a consultation seeking views about the current state of post-trade markets, the main trends and challenges faced by post-trade services providers and their users, the existence and scale of remaining or new barriers to post-trade services used in financial transactions, the risks associated with such barriers and the best ways to address them.

Alongside the consultation, the Commission has published the report of the European Post-Trade Forum (EPTF), an expert group established by the Commission in early 2016 to assess the evolution of the EU post-trade landscape and the progress made in removing the "Giovannini barriers" to post-trade services. The EPTF report identifies those Giovannini barriers that have been successfully addressed since 2001 but cites further barriers that have arisen due to technological and market developments in the intervening fifteen years, in particular developments in derivatives markets, securities finance activities, collateral management and post-trade reporting.

The Commission consultation seeks stakeholders' views on a wide ranging set of questions, including: the relative importance of trends in post-trade in the EU; technological advances (such as distributed ledger technology and other FinTech developments); financial stability concerns arising from the susceptibility of post-trade areas to systemic risk; the means by which EU post-trade markets could become more attractive internationally; the near and longer term strategy for EU post-trade services and the challenges the markets are likely to face.

Read more.

The European Securities Markets Authority has published a consultation on proposed guidelines to ensure common, uniform and consistent application of the provisions of the Central Securities Depositaries Regulation that apply to internalized settlement reporting and to the exchange of information between ESMA and national regulators.

Read more.

The G20 Leaders met in Hamburg, Germany on July 7-8, 2017 and have published a Leaders' Declaration and an Action Plan setting out the G20's strategy for achieving strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The Action Plan includes ongoing and planned work on financial sector regulation and development.

Read more.

On May 12, 2017, President Trump re-nominated Brian Quintenz to serve as CFTC Commissioner for the remainder of a five-year term expiring April 13, 2020. Mr. Quintenz was previously nominated by President Obama but his nomination was not confirmed by the Senate.

View press release.
 

President Trump nominated David Kautter to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.  Mr. Kautter currently serves as Partner-in-Charge of the Washington National Tax practice for RSM, an audit, tax and consulting services firm.

View press release.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced the appointment of William H. Hinman as director of the Division of Corporation Finance.

View press release.
 

US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) introduced a modified version of the financial regulatory reform legislation that he introduced in the last Congress.  Among other things, the new CHOICE 2.0 includes certain stress test reforms

Read more.

President Trump issued two new directives to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, aimed at revising federal regulations. The directives ordered Secretary Mnuchin to conduct reviews of and report back within 180 days regarding the FDIC’s Orderly Liquidation Authority, which was granted to the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation under Dodd-Frank, and the ability of the US Financial Stability Oversight Council to designate nonbank financial firms as systematically important financial institutions and subject to Federal Reserve oversight. Contemporaneously, the President also issued an Executive Order directing Secretary Mnuchin to examine whether any significant tax rules issued on or after January 1, 2016 would impose an undue financial burden on US taxpayers, add undue complexity to the Federal tax laws, or cause the Internal Revenue Service to exceed its statutory authority.

 

President Trump nominated former New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett to be President of the Export-Import Bank for a term of four years expiring January 20, 2021.  The President also nominated former Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama to be a Member of the Ex-Im Bank’s Board of Directors for a term of four years expiring January 20, 2019.

View the White House press release.

The US CFTC announced that N. Charles Thornton III has been named the CFTC’s Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Mr. Thornton will assume his duties on April 17, 2017.

View the CFTC press release.

The European Commission has published a consultation paper on conflicts of law rules for securities ownership, addressing so-called third party effects of transactions in securities and claims. The consultation relates to the Commission's Capital Markets Union and the objective of creating a single market for capital by facilitating cross-border investment.

Read more.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that Andrew B. Busch had been named the CFTC’s first Chief Market Intelligence Officer. In a speech announcing the appointment, Acting CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo stated that the new CMIO’s role will be to activate the CFTC’s capability for market intelligence, in order to understand, analyze and communicate dynamics in the derivatives market.

View press release announcing the appointment.

US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced the appointment of federal prosecutor James McDonald as the agency’s new Director of Enforcement.  Mr. McDonald, who was most recently a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, will assume his duties at the agency on April 10, 2017.  On April 3, 2017, Acting Chairman Giancarlo announced that Andrew Busch has been named the CFTC’s first Chief Market Intelligence Officer, responsible for harnessing the CFTC’s market intelligence capabilities and, combined with industry and policy maker outreach, identifying and communicating emerging trends in the commodity futures markets and reporting directly to the CFTC Chairman.
 

UK Prime Minster Theresa May formally notified the European Council of the UK's intention to withdraw from the European Union in accordance with requirements set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. Prime Minister May sent a letter to the President of the Council, Donald Tusk, which sets out the approach the UK Government seeks to take in discussing its exit from the European Union over the next two years.

View the letter.

You might like to view our Brexit resource page, which is available here.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a research Report on securities financing transactions in the European Union and the use of collateral haircuts by firms. The purpose of ESMA's research is to outline the current level and calculation methodologies of haircuts used in the EU by SFT market participants with the overall aim of informing future discussions in the context of global regulatory policy.

Read more.

The US Federal Reserve System released the 2016 combined annual audited financial statements for the Federal Reserve Banks, as well as statements for the 12 individual Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors. An independent auditing firm engaged by the Federal Reserve Board has issued unqualified opinions on the financial statements and on the Federal Reserve Board’s and the Federal Reserve Banks’ internal controls over financial reporting.

The audited financial statements provide a significant amount of information about the assets, liabilities and earnings of the Federal Reserve Banks and the Federal Reserve Board as of December 31, 2016, including information about the composition, fair value and earnings related to the $4.4 trillion of US Treasury securities, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) debt securities and federal agency and GSE mortgage-backed securities acquired through open market operations.

View The Federal Reserve System financial statements.

The Financial Conduct Authority has issued a press release announcing that Nick Stace had been appointed as a Non-Executive Director Board Member. Mr. Stace commenced his initial three-year term on April 1, 2017. Mr. Stace is also Chief Executive of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

View the press release.

The G20 Leaders have published a Communique from the Summit held in Germany. The G20 Leaders reiterated their commitment to finalizing the remaining elements of the financial sector reform agenda and to conducting a post-implementation evaluation of the reforms. The G20 Leaders have endorsed the Financial Stability Board's recommendations to address structural vulnerabilities arising from asset management activities and have asked the International Organization of Securities Commissions to prepare measures for timely implementation of those recommendations. Monitoring of those risks is to continue and, for the July 2017 Summit, the FSB is to assess the adequacy of monitoring and policy tools to address risks from shadow banking and to consider whether any further policy is needed. The G20 Leaders have called on their members to complete their implementation of the OTC derivatives reforms. The FSB is due to review the implementation and effects of these reforms.

Read more.

President Trump made several nominations for key posts in the US Department of Treasury. Specifically, President Trump nominated James Donovan as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and David Malpass to serve as Under Secretary for International Affairs. Sigal Mandelker was nominated as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Brent James McIntosh was nominated to serve as General Counsel to the Treasury, and Adam Lerrick was nominated as Deputy Under Secretary for International Finance.

View the White House press release on the nominations.

President Donald J. Trump nominated J. Christopher Giancarlo to serve as Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The nomination of Mr. Giancarlo, who has been a Commissioner of the CFTC since 2014 and has been serving as acting CFTC Chairman since January 20, 2017, was widely expected. In speeches at various industry conferences, Acting Chairman Giancarlo has detailed his agenda for the CFTC, calling for reinterpretation of the CFTC’s regulatory mission to pursue the core goals of (i) fostering economic growth, (ii) enhancing U.S. financial markets and (iii) “right-sizing” its regulatory footprint. In pursuit of these goals, the agenda calls for an agency-wide review of CFTC rules, regulations and practices in order to make them simpler and less burdensome. In addition, the agenda advocates revising the swaps trading rules in order to allow market participants to have greater flexibility in choosing the manner of trade execution. In his remarks, Acting Chairman Giancarlo also called for greater engagement by the CFTC with its overseas regulatory counterparts on the basis of “cross-border comity, not uniformity.”

View the text of the speech.

Charlotte Hogg has formally offered her resignation to the Bank of England, which was publicly accepted on March 14, 2017. Ms. Hogg held the positions of both Deputy Governor Markets & Banking and Chief Operating Officer. She joined the Bank in 2013 and assumed the additional position of Deputy Governor on March 1, 2017. Ms. Hogg's resignation follows information being made public through hearings of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee noting that Ms. Hogg failed to correctly disclose a conflict of interest relating to her brother holding a senior executive position at Barclays. As a consequence, during Ms. Hogg's tenure she was not compliant with the Bank's Code of Conduct which Ms. Hogg had assisted in drafting. The Treasury Select Committee has also announced that the Bank is reconfiguring reporting lines and internal structures with a view to safeguarding the governance of the Bank's Code of Conduct, Compliance and disciplinary processes.

View the letter of resignation.

View the Bank of England's response.

View the Treasury Committee second report on the appointment of Ms. Hogg.
 

President Trump met with community bankers at a National Economic Council "listening session" at the White House. President Trump discussed the February 3, 2017 Executive Order, “Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System,” and how excessive regulation is threatening US community banking. According to a White House readout, President Trump promised to work to tailor the nation’s regulatory framework so that it accounts for the unique challenges faced by community banks.

Following the meeting, US House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling released a statement noting that it is “encouraging to have a president who is listening to the concerns of community bankers who have been buried under an avalanche of burdensome regulations as a result of Dodd-Frank. Republicans on the Financial Services Committee are eager to work with the President and his administration this year to fulfill the pledge to dismantle Dodd-Frank and unclog the arteries of our financial system so the lifeblood of capital can flow more freely and create jobs.”

Read the White House readout.

Read the Statement from Representative Hensarling.

The CFTC announced that Daniel J. Davis has been named the agency’s General Counsel, effective immediately.

View the CFTC press release.

The CFTC announced that Daniel J. Davis has been named the agency’s General Counsel, effective immediately.

View the CFTC press release.

The European Commission launched a new portal through which feedback can be provided on proposed EU legislation and initiatives. The portal is part of the Commission’s Better Regulation agenda. The portal is intended to provide individuals and stakeholders with the opportunity to provide input on new EU legislation from the preparation phase through to proposals for new laws and evaluations of how existing laws are performing.

View the European Commission’s portal.
 

The European Commission has published a request to the European Securities and Markets Authority for technical advice on possible delegated acts under the Prospectus Regulation. The Prospectus Regulation has been agreed but is yet to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. It will enter into force 20 days after publication and apply two years after publication - currently expected to be June 2019. The Prospectus Regulation will replace the existing Prospectus Directive and sets out the requirements for a prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market. The Prospectus Regulation aims to simplify the rules and administrative obligations for companies wishing to issue shares or debt on the market and reducing the costs of preparing a prospectus, thus fostering cross-border investments in the single market, while at the same time still enabling investors to make informed investment decisions.

Read more. 

The US Federal Reserve Board announced the appointment of Ann Misback as its Secretary, effective April 2, 2017.  The Office of the Secretary supports the Federal Reserve Board by providing essential corporate secretary services, including the planning and execution of Federal Reserve Board meetings, as well as related support services.

Ms. Misback succeeds Robert deV. Frierson, who has served as Secretary since July 2012.

View the Federal Reserve Board press release.

The US Department of Labor proposed to extend the applicability dates of the fiduciary rule and related exemptions, including the Best Interest Contract Exemption, from April 10, 2017 to June 9, 2017.

Read more.
 

The SEC adopted rule and form amendments to make it easier for investors and other market participants to find and access exhibits in registration statements and periodic reports that were originally provided in previous filings. The final rules will take effect on September 1, 2017.

The amendments will require issuers to include a hyperlink to each exhibit in the filing’s exhibit index.  Currently, someone seeking to retrieve and access an exhibit that has been incorporated by reference must review the exhibit index to determine the filing in which the exhibit is included, and then must search through the registrant’s filings to locate the relevant filing.

View the final rule.

The SEC published a request for public comment on disclosures called for by Industry Guide 3 - Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies. Stating that the financial services industry has changed drastically since Guide 3 was originally published, the SEC is soliciting public input on whether Guide 3 continues to elicit the information that investors need for informed investment and voting decisions.  The SEC also seeks comment on whether there are new types of disclosures about the activities of bank holding companies that investors would find important.

The request for comment is published on the SEC website and in the Federal Register.  The comment period will remain open until May 8, 2017.

View the request for comment.