The European Systemic Risk Board has published a report on interoperability arrangements between EU central counterparties. An "interoperability arrangement" is defined in the report as a link between CCPs that involves the cross-system execution of transactions. It is relevant where multiple CCPs service the same trading venue. The arrangements allow clearing members of one CCP to centrally clear trades carried out with members of another CCP, without requiring the first counterparty to be a member of the second CCP. A key motivation for such arrangements is the reduction of fragmentation in the open positions of trading participants and/or clearing members, as open positions in the same products can be consolidated at one CCP.

Read more.

The European Securities and Markets Authority Decision renewing the temporary restriction on the marketing, distribution or sale of contracts for difference to retail clients has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. ESMA announced on December 19, 2018, that the existing restriction would be extended. The CfD Decision applies directly across the EU from February 1, 2019, for a period of three months.

View the decision.

View ESMA's announcement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended certain exemptions under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) for security-based swap transactions. The relief, which is intended to facilitate the implementation of the security-based swaps regulatory regime under the Dodd-Frank Act, was originally offered by the SEC in 2011 and has been extended four times prior, most recently in 2018.

Through this order, the Commission granted an extension of certain temporary relief provided by the SEC to address the fact that the Dodd-Frank Act revised the definition of “security” in the Exchange Act to include security-based swaps.  The relief, which was previously set to expire on February 5, 2019, will be extended until February 5, 2020.

Read more.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a statement on the impending clearing and trading obligations for small financial counterparties and the reporting backloading requirement. Under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, small FCs in Category 3 – FCs with less than €8 billion in aggregate month-end average of outstanding gross notional amount of uncleared derivatives at group level – are due to start clearing interest rate and credit derivatives subject to the clearing obligation on June 21, 2019. Once the clearing obligation is triggered, the related trading obligation under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation may also be triggered. In addition, the reporting backloading requirement is due to come into effect on February 12, 2019. However, it is foreseen that, under the EU's proposals to make technical changes to EMIR, known as EMIR Refit or EMIR 2.1, Category 3 FCs below the clearing threshold will be exempt from the clearing obligation and the backloading requirement will be deleted. The final text of EMIR Refit is now available, although it remains to be translated and published in the Official Journal.  Whilst EMIR Refit remains not in force, these obligations would technically arise, only to be eliminated shortly afterwards with the passage of this new legislation. In its statement, ESMA confirms that it does not expect national regulators to focus on any non-compliance by small FCs with the clearing obligation or by market participants with the backloading requirements.

View ESMA's statement.

The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a consultation on proposed revisions to the Handbook to implement changes made to the EU Revised Shareholder Rights Directive. The Directive aims to promote shareholder engagement, effective stewardship and long-term investment decision-making through enhancing the transparency of engagement policies and investment strategies across the institutional investment community.

Read more.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Reporting Council have published a discussion paper which calls for input on how best to encourage the capital markets community to engage more actively in stewardship of the assets in which they invest. The aim of the paper is to advance debate about what is meant by effective stewardship, what minimum expectations investors have of the financial services firms which invest on their behalf and what higher standards the U.K. should aspire to.

Read more.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published for consultation proposed changes to the Handbook. The changes are to align the Prospectus Rules sourcebook within the Handbook to ensure it is consistent with the new EU Prospectus Regulation that came into force on July 20, 2017.

The EU Prospectus Regulation sets out information that companies need to disclose to investors and potential investors in a prospectus when raising capital. Even though certain provisions of the EU Prospectus Regulation were anticipated to come into effect after the U.K.’s anticipated exit from the EU on March 29, 2019, the EU Prospectus Regulation will still be applicable during any Brexit transition or implementation period.

Read more.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has launched a consultation on proposed Guidance on whether certain crypto-assets fall within the U.K.'s regulatory perimeter (CP19/3). The FCA's consultation is in response to one of the commitments made by the U.K. Cryptoasset Taskforce last year in its final Cryptoassets Report. The Taskforce was established in March 2018 and comprises representatives from HM Treasury, the FCA and the Bank of England. The FCA's consultation closes on April 5, 2019. The FCA intends to publish the final Guidance on the existing regulatory perimeter in relation to crypto-assets by summer 2019.

The FCA's proposed Guidance is intended to help firms determine whether certain crypto-assets fall within the FCA's regulatory perimeter. However, the FCA notes that assessing whether a crypto-asset is within the perimeter can only be done on a case-by-case basis and that the responsibility for ensuring that it has the correct permissions lies with the firm undertaking the activity. A firm that undertakes a regulated activity without the requisite permissions will be in breach of the 'general prohibition' in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Any such breach by a person is a criminal offence and the person may be imprisoned or fined, or both. The consultation is relevant to a wide range of consumers, stakeholders and firms, in particular firms that issue or create crypto-assets, firms that market, sell, buy, hold or store crypto-assets, financial advisors, investment managers and investment exchanges.

Read more.

The European Central Bank working group on euro risk-free rates has published guiding principles for fallback provisions in new contracts for euro-denominated cash products. Noting the work that is being undertaken by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association on fall-backs for derivatives referencing EURIBOR and other IBOR rates, the guidelines focus on non-derivative “cash products”, such as mortgages, loans, securitizations, covered bonds and secured finance transactions.

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The International Organization of Securities Commissions has issued a statement on the importance of issuers including environmental, social and governance matters when disclosing information material to investors’ decisions.

Read more.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has completed the review of its 2008 Principles for sound liquidity risk management and supervision. The Basel Committee has concluded that the Principles do not require revision. The Committee expects both supervisors and banks to remain attentive to liquidity risks in the financial markets. Banks should take into account developments since 2008 that may impact their liquidity risk management considerations. These developments include, for example, increasing digitisation of finance and payment systems, an increased use of central clearing of derivatives and margining and the increasing significance of cyber-attacks.

View the announcement.

View the 2008 Principles.

HM Treasury has laid before Parliament a draft of the Equivalence Determinations for Financial Services and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The draft Regulations grant HM Treasury temporary powers to make equivalence determinations in relation to any EEA state for EU legislation that is being onshored. The retained EU law includes the Benchmark Regulation, the Capital Requirements Regulation, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation, the Credit Rating Agencies Regulation, the Prospectus Directive, the Transparency Directive, the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation, the Short Selling Regulation and Solvency 2. The powers will enable HM Treasury to make equivalence decisions before Brexit that come into force on exit day in a no deal scenario. These powers are distinct from the powers granted to HM Treasury to make equivalence decisions post-Brexit under the specific sectoral onshored legislation and apply in parallel to relevant temporary permissions or registration regimes. The temporary powers would expire 12 months after exit day.

Read more.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its annual report to the European Commission on the application of accepted market practices under the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The Market Abuse Regulation provides certain prohibitions against market manipulation. Accepted market practices, which are established by national regulators and notified to ESMA, provide a defense against any allegations of market manipulation. In particular, a dealing on a financial market which was carried out for legitimate reasons and in line with an established AMP, will not be found to constitute market manipulation. In the report, ESMA identifies AMPs which were established before the Market Abuse Regulation came into force, or which became effective after that date. 

Read more.

The Eurozone Single Resolution Board has published the second wave of its 2018 minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities as part of resolution planning required under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and related Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation. The SRB published the first wave of the 2018 MREL requirements in November which applied to banks that did not have binding MREL targets in 2017. 

Read more.

Following its consultation from March to June last year, the Basel Committee on Banking Standards has announced the final revisions to the Basel III market risk capital framework. At the same time, it has also announced its 2019 priorities.

The objective of the Basel market risk framework is to ensure that banks hold enough regulatory capital to protect against losses arising from movements in market prices of instruments held in their trading book. Certain changes to the 2016 market risk framework are to:
 

1. Clarify the scope of application. The Committee has provided further guidance on the regulatory book to which instruments should be assigned in circumstances where instruments could go into more than one book and has revised the treatment of structural foreign currency positions. The revised framework also allows equity investments in funds to be allocated to the trading book, provided that a bank: (i) is able to "look through" to the fund's underlying assets; or (ii) has access both to daily price quotes and to the information contained in the mandate of the fund.
2. Revise the internal model approach to address implementation challenges, in particular, by amending the profit and loss attribution (PLA) test metric and failure consequence.
3. Amend the standardized model approach. The approach to measuring risk factor losses was too high in relation to the actual risk and there was unnecessary operational burden. The changes in the standardized approach include widening the scope of currency pairs that are considered liquid in the FX risk class to ensure more currency pairs are subject to lower risk weights and introducing new "index" buckets for equity and credit spread risks so that each underlying position in an index does not need to be identified.

Read more.

The U.K. Government has announced the establishment of a new government taskforce to fight against financial crime. The new taskforce, the Economic Crime Strategic Board, is part of the Government's Serious and Organised Crime Strategy. It will set priorities, direct resources and scrutinise performance against the economic crime threat. The Board includes chief executives from Barclays, Lloyds and Santander and senior representatives from UK Finance, the National Crime Agency and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Accountants Affinity Group and National Association of Estate Agents.

View the announcement.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has launched a consultation on proposed amendments to its Supervisory Statement on credit risk mitigation to clarify its expectations around the eligibility of financial collateral. The consultation paper is relevant for banks, building societies and PRA-designated U.K. investment firms that are subject to the Capital Requirements Regulation. The consultation closes on April 10, 2019.

Read more.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a report on the application and suitability of the EU securities regulatory framework to crypto-assets, including Initial Coin Offerings. The report is in response to the European Commission's request in its FinTech Action Plan 2018. Like the European Banking Authority, which published a report on the same day in relation to banking sector issues, ESMA found that EU activities related to crypto-assets are fairly low and do not present any financial stability risks.

ESMA's report focuses on the legal qualification of crypto-assets under EU financial securities laws and highlights that this may differ across EU member states because it will be subject to the national laws implementing EU legislation. ESMA notes that there is currently no legal definition of crypto-assets and that a key consideration is whether a crypto-asset qualifies as a financial instrument under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments package. Where a crypto-asset qualifies as a MiFID financial instrument, the full requirements under various securities legislation may apply, subject to any applicable exemptions.  According to ESMA, the rules in the Prospectus Directive would apply to an issue of crypto-assets offered to the public, including through an ICO, where the instruments are transferable securities. 

Read more.

The European Banking Authority has published a report on the application and suitability of the EU bank regulatory framework for crypto-assets. The report is in response to the European Commission's request in its FinTech Action Plan 2018. The report confirms that EU activities related to crypto-assets are fairly low and do not present any financial stability risks. The European Securities and Markets Authority also published a similar report covering Initial Coin Offerings issues within its remit on the same day.

The EBA's report sets out the EBA's findings, the issues arising from the results, the EBA's advice to the Commission and the steps that the EBA intends to take in 2019. The EBA mapped the applicability to crypto-assets and crypto-asset activities of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation, the second Electronic Money Directive and the second Payment Services Directive.

Read more.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a "Dear CEO" letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officers of all FCA-regulated firms. In the letter, the FCA highlights its concerns over the practice engaged in by some firms of issuing financial promotions which suggest or imply that all of the activities or investments undertaken by the firm are regulated by the FCA and/or Prudential Regulation Authority, when they are not.

Some regulated firms undertake both regulated and unregulated business. The FCA has identified that some of these firms are issuing financial promotions which do not make clear which aspects of its business are not regulated by the FCA and/or PRA. This breaches the requirement that all financial promotions are fair, clear and not misleading and that a firm cannot indicate or imply that it is regulated or otherwise supervised by the FCA for its unregulated business. The FCA encourages all firms to reflect on the letter and ensure that their actions comply with the FCA's rules relating to financial promotions.

View the letter. 

Fulfilling the mandate in the European Commission's March 2018 FinTech Action Plan, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities has published a report on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs, together referred to as innovation facilitators. Innovation hubs are a dedicated point of contact for firms raising queries with national regulators on FinTech-related issues. Regulatory sandboxes enable firms to test innovative financial products, services or business models under the supervision of a national regulator.

The ESAs' report states that most EU member states have one or both forms of these innovation facilitators. The facilitators operate at national level and the ESAs identify this as a potential challenge to the EU objective of scaling-up FinTech. For example, national regulators are likely to adopt different approaches to the same innovation which can hinder opportunities for extending an innovation across the EU as well as present regulatory arbitrage risks. The potential absence of passporting innovative products throughout the EU can raise issues for their users.

Read more.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published two draft Directives relating to Brexit under the: (1) draft Collective Investment Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019; and (2) Alternative Investment Fund Managers Regulations 2013, as amended by the draft Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. These draft regulations will establish a Temporary Permissions Regime enabling EEA funds that currently market in the U.K. under an EEA passport to continue to do so for three years after the U.K. exits the EU.

Read more.

The U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the appointment of two external members to the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, namely Dame Colette Bowe and Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia. They will replace Richard Sharp and Martin Taylor, who are stepping down at the end of Q1 2019 and Q2 2019, respectively.

The FPC, established in 2013, seeks to identify, monitor and take action to remove or reduce systemic risk in the U.K. financial system, while simultaneously protecting and enhancing its resilience. The FPC consists of six BoE staff and five external members selected for their experience and expertise in financial services.

Dame Jayne-Anne and Dame Colette will start their three years of service before the FPC's Q2 and Q3 meetings, respectively.

View the announcement.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has issued a Decision renewing the temporary prohibition on the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients for a further three months from January 2, 2019. This has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. ESMA announced in November 2018 that the existing restriction would be extended. The binary options Decision applies directly across the EU from January 2, 2019 for a period of three months.

View the Decision.

View ESMA's notification.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published amended Guidelines on definitions of commodity derivatives and their classification. The amended Guidelines, which are an update to the guidelines originally adopted under the previous Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID I), have been adapted to the new MiFID II regulatory framework without amending their substance.

Read more.

The EU has granted temporary equivalence to two Swiss stock exchanges (SIX Swiss Exchange AG and BX Swiss AG) under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation. MiFIR requires EU investment firms to ensure that the trades they undertake in shares admitted to trading on a regulated market or traded on a trading venue take place on a regulated market, multilateral trading facility, systematic internaliser or equivalent third-country trading venue. EU investment firms will be able to comply with the MiFIR share trading obligation by trading shares on these Swiss exchanges from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019. The extension of the equivalence appears to be dependent on the progress of trade discussions between the EU and Switzerland.

View the EU equivalence decision for Swiss exchanges.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has opened a consultation on two sets of draft Guidelines under the Central Securities Depositaries Regulation. The first draft Guidelines are on settlement fails reporting by national regulators, and the second draft Guidelines concern standardized procedures and messaging protocols that investment firms must use to limit settlement fails. Feedback on each of the draft Guidelines should be submitted by February 20, 2019. ESMA aims to finalize both Guidelines by July 2019.

Read more.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has launched a consultation on the proposed Technical Standards on strong customer authentication and common and secure open standards of communication (referred to as the U.K. SCA RTS). The U.K. SCA RTS would apply in the U.K. from September 14, 2019 in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The FCA's proposals will apply to payment service providers, including banks, building societies, e-money issuers, payment institutions, registered Account Information Services (AIS) and Payment Initiation Services (PIS) service providers. Responses to the consultation should be submitted by February 19, 2019. The FCA intends to publish the final Technical Standards in April 2019.

The EU SCA Regulatory Technical Standards (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389), which supplement the EU Payment Services Directive, came into force on March 14, 2018. The EU SCA RTS impose obligations on PSPs to increase the security of customers' payments made by card and other means and set out requirements on account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) relating to the third party providers of Account Information Services and Payment Initiation Services. The EU SCA RTS will apply directly across the EU from September 14, 2019.

The FCA is proposing to make the U.K. SCA RTS substantially similar to the EU SCA RTS so as not to disrupt and confuse the substantial preparations that industry has already made to implement the EU requirements. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the U.K. SCA RTS will supplement the U.K. Payment Services Regulations 2017, as amended by the Electronic Money, Payment Services and Payment Systems (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018. Without the U.K. SCA RTS, the revised-for-Brexit PSRs would be ineffective as they require compliance with U.K.SCA RTS.

View the consultation paper (CP18/44).

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a statement announcing that its various restrictions on the sale, distribution and marketing of contracts for difference to retail investors will be extended from February 1, 2019, for a further three months. ESMA has powers under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation to impose prohibitions or restrictions on certain financial instruments, financial activities or practices to address a significant investor protection concern in the European Union. Product intervention measures imposed by ESMA under MiFIR must be reviewed at appropriate intervals and at least every three months. If a measure is not renewed after three months, it will expire, and it would then fall to member states to impose similar restrictions at a national level, if they so wish.

ESMA considers that a significant investor protection concern in relation to retail clients still exists. Its statement confirms that the existing restriction, implemented on November 1, 2018, will be extended from February 1, 2019 for a further three months.

View ESMA's statement.

View details of the existing CfD restrictions.

The European Commission has adopted temporary equivalence decisions determining that the U.K. regulatory frameworks applicable to central counterparties and central securities depositories will be deemed equivalent to EU standards under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation and the Central Securities Depositories Regulation, respectively, in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Read more.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted, by a 3-2 vote, Rule of Practice 194, which establishes the process for a registered security-based swap dealer or major security-based swap participant (collectively, SBS Entities) to apply to the SEC for a waiver that would allow a statutorily disqualified natural person to effect or be involved in effecting security-based swaps on behalf of the SBS Entity, subject to certain conditions.  The final rule, which was first proposed in 2015, represents a continuation of the agency’s efforts to implement its security-based swap regulations pursuant to Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and will become relevant when the SEC begins requiring registration of SBS Entities.

Read more.

The European Commission has published a Communication on Implementing the Commission's Contingency Action Plan for a no deal Brexit and has adopted all the legislative proposals and delegated acts announced in its November 2018 Contingency Plan. The actions relevant to the derivatives industry are the adoption by the Commission of:
 

1. A temporary and conditional equivalence decision for CCPs already established and authorized in the U.K. CCPs established in third countries (which the U.K. will become on exit day) whose supervisory and legal regimes have been deemed to be equivalent to the EU regime may provide clearing services to clearing members or trading venues established in the EU. Such a CCP must be recognized by the European Securities and Markets Authority in accordance with the processes outlined in the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The adopted decision would grant equivalence to the regulatory and legal regimes of the U.K. and Northern Ireland in relation to CCPs. The Commission's equivalence decision would apply for 12 months from exit day. ESMA remains to designate various U.K. CCPs.

Read more.

The Bank of England and Prudential Regulation Authority have launched a package of consultations on proposals for the U.K.'s resolvability assessment framework for banks, with the aim of meeting the BoE's commitment to ensure that all banks are resolvable by 2022. The PRA consultation is relevant for U.K. banks and building societies with £50 billion or more in retail deposits on an individual or consolidated basis. The BoE's consultation is wider in scope and affects all firms with bail-in or partial-transfer resolution strategies and material U.K. subsidiaries of an overseas-based banking group. Responses to the consultations should be submitted by April 5, 2019.

Read more.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules that would establish risk mitigation requirements with respect to a registered security-based swap dealer’s or major security-based swap participant’s (collectively, SBS Entities’) portfolio of uncleared security-based swaps.  The proposed rules would establish requirements for SBS Entities in respect of security-based swap portfolio reconciliation, portfolio compression and trading relationship documentation, and will become relevant when the SEC commences requiring registration of SBS Entities.  The proposal continues the agency’s ongoing efforts to implement its security-based swap regulations pursuant to Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and is intended to harmonize the SEC’s requirements with those of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which adopted similar risk mitigation requirements for uncleared swaps in 2012.

Read more.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published two Directions under the Electronic Money, Payment Services and Payment Systems (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018, specifying how and when firms subject to the Regulations should make Temporary Permissions Notifications. The Regulations set out how firms that are entitled to provide e-money or payment services immediately before the U.K.’s exit from the EU may continue to provide those services for a specified period after exit day. Firms must notify the FCA of their desire to make use of this temporary permission regime in accordance with the FCA’s Directions.

View the FCA's Direction on notifications for e-money institutions under the Regulations.

View the FCA's Direction on Notifications for payment services institutions under the Regulations.

View details of the Electronic Money, Payment Services and Payment Systems (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018.

The European Banking Authority has published a press release calling for firms to take more action in their Brexit-related communications with customers. The U.K. will depart the EU without a transitional period on March 30, 2019 if the withdrawal agreement is not ratified by that time. In June 2018, the EBA issued an Opinion that stressed the need for firms to consider their obligations to existing and prospective customers. It set out a list of minimum information that national regulators should ensure firms send to customers whose contracts or services might be affected by the end of the year. In its press release, the EBA urges firms to consider the June 2018 Opinion and to communicate to customers the risks and effects that a no-deal Brexit may have on a customer's contract with the firm.

View the press release.

View details of the EBA's June 2018 Opinion.

Following its consultation earlier this year on a proposed regulation, the European Commission has adopted a Delegated Regulation regarding certain registration conditions to promote the use of SME Growth Markets for the purposes of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments package, known as MiFID II. SME Growth Markets are a new sub-category of multilateral trading facility introduced by MiFID II in January 2018 to facilitate access to capital for SMEs. The adopted Delegated Regulation will amend existing delegated legislation under MiFID II to address regulatory barriers to the take-up of SME Growth Markets.

Read more.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed revisions to the agency’s No-Action Letter policy and floated the idea of a federal regulatory sandbox. The proposed NAL policy would simplify and clarify the agency’s existing procedures for obtaining a NAL, while the sandbox would streamline the process for firms that seek regulatory relief when they roll out innovative products or services.

The CFPB’s proposed NAL policy would supplant the agency’s existing policy, which was implemented in 2016. Under the current policy, the CFPB has only provided one NAL. To encourage more applications for NALs, the CFPB is proposing to streamline the NAL application and review processes by eliminating several redundant or overly burdensome requirements, such as data-sharing requirements. The updated NAL policy would also eliminate assumed time-period limitations on NALs and place an emphasis on coordination with other regulators that offer NALs or similar forms of relief.

Read more.

The European Banking Authority has published two sets of finalized guidelines under the Securitization Regulation which, along with targeted amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation, forms part of the new EU Securitization Framework for simple, transparent and standardized securitizations from January 2019. Originators and sponsors will be required to notify the European Securities and Markets Authority of any securitization that meets the STS criteria to be able to use the "STS" designation. ESMA will maintain a list of all such securitizations on its website.

Read more.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has published its Final Report on the Investment Consultants Market Investigation. The Investigation assessed the supply and acquisition of investment consultancy services and fiduciary management services. In its Provisional Decision Report, published on July 18, 2018, the CMA concluded that there is an adverse effect on competition which may result in material detriment to customers in both the investment consultancy and fiduciary management markets, although there are more concerns with the fiduciary management market. This finding is confirmed in the Final Report.

In investment consultancy, the CMA considers that there is a low level of engagement by some customers in choosing and monitoring their provider. In addition, some customers may have difficulty in accessing and assessing the information needed to evaluate the quality of their existing investment consultant and identifying whether it would be to their advantage to use an alternative provider.

Read more.

The European Commission has adopted a Delegated Regulation amending and correcting the Regulatory Technical Standards under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation on the equity transparency obligations of trading venues and investment firms. The RTS, known as RTS 1, is set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/587, supplementing MiFIR. Under MiFIR, Systematic Internalisers must make public firm quotes in equity instruments. The quotes must: (i) be at least equivalent to 10% of the standard market size for the quoted instrument; (ii) include both a bid and an offer price for a size that could be up to market size; and (iii) reflect the prevailing market conditions for that instrument. RTS 1 specifies the concept of "prices reflecting prevailing market conditions" as being "close in price, at the time of publication, to quotes of equivalent sizes for the same financial instrument on the most relevant market in terms of liquidity."

Read more.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published its final document, entitled "FCA Mission: Approach to Authorisation," explaining the purpose of authorization and the FCA's approach to it. The paper sets out details of the FCA's approach to: (i) evaluating whether firms meet the requisite Threshold Conditions and assessing whether individuals are "fit and proper"; (ii) how the FCA uses authorization to promote competition; and (iii) revoking authorization.

Read more.

To further its understanding of Ether and its use on the Ethereum Network, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a request for input on several topics related to the virtual currency. The RFI poses a number of questions on Ether, including, among other things, its functionality, underlying technology, governance, markets, cybersecurity and custody. In addition, the CFTC asks several questions regarding Ether's susceptibility to market manipulation and the potential introduction of Ether derivatives contracts.

The CFTC stated that the requested feedback will inform the work of the CFTC and its LabCFTC initiative to enhance the agency's oversight of virtual currency markets and develop regulatory policy. The CFTC also noted that it hopes to gain a greater understanding of the similarities and differences between Ether and bitcoin, along with potential risks and opportunities uniquely posed by Ether.

Read more.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the U.K. is able to unilaterally revoke its notice of intention to withdraw from the EU. Any such revocation could only be made before the draft Withdrawal Agreement entered into force or, if there is no agreement, expiration of the two-year period since the withdrawal notification was made or any extension of that two-year period in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. The revocation could also only be made after a revocation decision was made by the U.K. according to its constitutional requirements.

The CJEU decision means that the U.K. Parliament has three options to consider on Brexit: remain in the EU, accept the draft withdrawal agreement negotiated by the U.K. Government or leave the EU on March 29, 2019, without an agreement (known as a "hard Brexit").

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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has launched two consultations proposing to prohibit the sale, marketing and distribution of binary options to retail consumers and to restrict the sale, marketing and distribution of contracts for difference and similar products to retail customers. Both CFDs and binary options are considered to have given rise to significant investor protection concerns, due to their complexity, the lack of transparent information at the point of sale, the risk of significant loss for investors and the deployment of aggressive marketing techniques by providers and distributors of the products. The FCA's product intervention powers under the Markets in Financial Instrument Regulation and, where the FCA has gone beyond those powers, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, allow it to impose prohibitions or restrictions on certain financial instruments, financial activities or practices to address a significant investor protection concern. The proposed rules would be permanent and would replace the temporary measures introduced, and subsequently renewed, by the European Securities and Markets Authority earlier this year.

Read more.

Three pieces of U.K. legislation to onshore EU laws in preparation for Brexit have been made. These are:
 

1. The Trade Repositories (Amendment and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1318).

A number of technical changes have been made as a result of the consultation process, but these do not affect the fundamental intention and scope of the legislation. The Regulations come into force on December 7, 2018, except for the provisions amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, which will come in force on exit day. Advance applications for registration of a trade repository must be submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority between December 7, 2018 and immediately before exit day, instead of on exit day.

These Regulations establish: (i) a temporary registration regime to enable U.K. and EU trade repositories to benefit - on complying with certain requirements - from temporary registration while the FCA considers their application; and (ii) a conversion regime that will allow U.K. trade repositories that are currently registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority to be registered as authorized U.K. trade repositories by the FCA from exit day.

Read more.

The U.K. Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (Commencement No. 12) Order 2018 has been made. The Order brings into force, from January 1, 2019, those provisions of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 on ring-fencing that are not already in force, including the prohibition on ring-fenced bodies to carry on excluded activities and provisions on group restructuring. The U.K. ring-fencing laws require U.K. banks which hold more than £25 billion in core deposits and banking groups whose members hold an average core deposit of more than £25 billion to separate their core retail banking business from their investment banking business. Restrictions will limit the products that a ring-fenced bank can offer and where it can conduct business. In particular, a ring-fenced bank will not be able to own a banking subsidiary or branch which is established outside of the EEA.

View the Order. 

The U.K. Securitization Regulations 2018 have been laid before Parliament and will come into force on January 1, 2019. The Regulations implement the EU Securitization Regulation (also known as the STS Regulation) into U.K. law.

The EU Securitization Regulation provides the criteria for identifying which securitizations will be designated as simple, transparent and standardized securitizations, a system to monitor the application of those criteria and common requirements on risk retention, due diligence and disclosure. It also allows (but does not require) originators, sponsors and securitization special purpose entities to use third-party firms to assess whether a securitization meets the STS criteria, provided that those firms are authorized by the relevant national regulator. Originators, sponsors or original lenders of a securitization will be required to retain on an ongoing basis a material net economic interest in the securitization of at least 5%. Related amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation set out preferential regulatory treatment for investors, in particular, for bank investors, of their exposures to securitizations that are deemed to be STS securitizations.

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Following its consultation earlier in 2018, the European Banking Authority has published final guidelines on the conditions to benefit from an exemption from the contingency mechanism under the revised Payment Services Directive. PSD2 and the related Regulatory Technical Standards on strong customer authentication and common and secure communication regulate, among other things, the access by account information service providers and payment initiation service providers to customer payment account data held in account servicing payment service providers.

The RTS require, among other things, ASPSPs with payment accounts that are accessible online to offer at least one access interface ensuring secure communication with account information service providers, payment initiation service providers and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments. An ASPSP may choose between offering: (i) an interface that is dedicated to the communication with account information service providers, payment initiation service providers, and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments; or (ii) use of the interface for the identification and communication with the ASPSP's payment service users. Where a dedicated interface is elected, ASPSPs must establish a contingency mechanism to ensure that payment service providers who rely on the dedicated interface can continue to provide their services in the event that the dedicated interface suffers from unavailability or inadequate performance. ASPSPs may apply for exemption from having to provide such a mechanism, demonstrating that the dedicated interface complies with certain other specific conditions.

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HM Treasury has laid before Parliament the draft Credit Rating Agencies (Amendment, etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to onshore the EU Credit Rating Agencies Regulation for Brexit. This follows the publication of related explanatory information on October 8, 2018.

The EU CRA Regulation regulates CRAs established in the EU. The European Securities and Markets Authority directly supervises EU CRAs registered with it under the CRA Regulation. The CRA Regulation provides that banks, investment firms, insurers, reinsurers, management companies, investment companies, alternative investment fund managers and CCPs may only use credit ratings for certain regulatory purposes if a rating is issued by: (i) an EU CRA registered with ESMA; (ii) a third-country CRA under the endorsement regime; or (iii) a third-country CRA under the equivalence/certification regime. Endorsement allows credit ratings issued by a third-country CRA to be used for regulatory purposes in the EU, provided that the rating has been endorsed by an EU CRA. The equivalence/certification regime allows credit ratings issued by a third-country CRA in relation to a third-country entity or financial instrument to be used in the EU for regulatory purposes. It does not cover ratings issued by a third-country CRA for an EU entity or a financial instrument issued in the EU.

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