Vida FatemiThe Financial Policy Committee’s summary of the financial stability risks following its October review notes: that more persistent inflation, higher interest rates and geopolitical tensions continue to make the...
Category - Insight
Emma Radmore
Need more detail on the Financial Services and Markets Bill?
We’ve produced a detailed summary of the key aspects of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, following up on our headline post. While the Bill won’t be having its second reading until September, keep an...
Emma Radmore
Harshil PatelEU reaches agreement on crypto measures
The EU has reached agreement on critical elements of crypto-asset regulation. The European Parliament and the European Council have reached a provisional deal new legislation aiming to ensure that crypto transfers can...
FIN. TeamFCA hosts CryptoSprint events
The FCA hosted its first policy-focused CryptoSprint events in May and June 2022. The objective of the events was to seek industry views around the current market and the design of an appropriate regulatory regime...
FCA publishes feedback statement on ESG integration
The FCA summarised feedback received to its discussion chapter (in CP21/18) on environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration in UK capital markets and has set out the potential next steps. The FCA received 50...
Update: the future of UK financial services regulation
The Treasury Committee has published a report outlining its plans to launch a new Sub-Committee to scrutinise regulatory proposals for financial services. The Sub-Committee will be chaired by the Rt. Hon. Mel Stride MP...
Lucy HadrillBoE speech on building operational resilience
Duncan Mackinnon, BoE Executive Director for Supervisory Risk Specialists, has delivered a speech on operational resilience. Mr Mackinnon considered the PRA’s expectations of firms in their implementation of the...
FCA publishes issue 69 of Market Watch
On 17 May 2022, the FCA published Market Watch 69, its newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues. The newsletter focuses on firms’ arrangements for market abuse surveillance, drawing on the...
FCA speech on critical issues in financial regulation
On 26 April 2022, the FCA published a speech given by Nikhil Rathi, FCA Chief Executive, on the FCA’s view of critical issues in financial regulation. Mr Rathi sets out the challenges and opportunities confronting...
CMA publishes Annual Plan for 2022/23
The CMA has published its Annual Plan which explains how it will protect consumers, promote competition and help support the economy in the year ahead. It aims to encourage innovation, productivity, and sustainable...
Consumers warned on the risks of crypto-assets
The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA and EIOPA – the ESAs) warn consumers that many crypto-assets are “highly risky” and speculative. The ESAs advised that sufficient measures are needed to...
FCA portfolio letter for Credit Unions
The FCA has published a portfolio letter to Credit Union Boards setting out the usual key risks of harm that are present for Credit Unions, their members and the markets in which they operate. The letter asks firms to...
FCA launches claims management companies fees cap
FCA has introduced restrictions on claims management companies (CMCs) to prevent excessive charging of fees to consumers owed compensation from financial services firms. The cap on charges is dependent on how much...
Government publishes Prospectus Regime Review Outcome
Following a consultation on the UK Prospectus Regime, the Government has today published the Prospectus Regime Review Outcome. The document sets out important reforms to the UK’s regime for the public issuance of...
FPC publishes consultation to withdraw affordability test
On 28 February 2022, the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) published a consultation to seek the views of interested parties on the proposal to withdraw the affordability test. The consultation, in particular, asks the...
BBRS publishes Post-Implementation Review
The Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS) has published the first part of its Post-Implementation Review (PIR). The aim of this review was to assess how well the BBRS has delivered the recommendations contained in...
Emma BondUK and New Zealand sign Free Trade Agreement
Having reached an agreement in principle in October 2021, the UK has signed a trade deal with New Zealand which will remove trade barriers on a range of UK goods and services. Chapter 11 of the agreement enables UK...
UK and Singapore sign new digital trade deal
Following its agreement in principle, on 25 February 2022, the International Trade Secretary joined her counterpart in Singapore and signed the trade deal- the Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) – that will help...
FOS publishes diversity, inclusion and wellbeing report
Following the Financial Services Culture Board’s report on inclusion, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has recently published its diversity, inclusion and well being report 2021 which highlights...
Kalifa Review – one year on – open letter from FinTech CEOs
One year on from the Kalifa review, the Innovate Finance membership community (FinTech CEOs and founders) have published an open letter expressing their contentment in seeing action taken to implement a majority of the...
Pay.UK develops new data model
Pay.UK has developed a new tool in collaboration with UK Finance to help prevent Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. The new ‘logical data model’ will be a useful foundation for categorising relevant customer data to...
Treasury Committee hears from financial regulators
As part of its inquiry into the Future of Financial Services post-Brexit, the Treasury Committee held a session on Monday 21st February with representatives from the PRA, FCA and the Bank of England. The aim of the...
Article: a new arena for asset financing?
Following the administration of Arena Television in November 2021, our colleagues Graham Jeffries and Nicola Walker have written an article looking at the likely impact for lessees and borrowers who are seeking to...
ASA publishes guidance on advertising cryptoassets
Advertising and marketing associated with cryptoassets is subject to the UK advertising rules policed by the Advertising Standards Authority. New guidance has been issued to assist businesses with complying with these...
IRSG criticises CRD6
The International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) has published a narrative on the European Commission’s proposal for new rules for third country providers of banking services as part of the EU Capital...
UK and Australia sign historic trade deal
The UK and Australia have signed a trade deal which sets new global standards in digital services and creates new work and travel opportunities for residents of both nations. The deal, which was agreed in principle in...
Article: is your settlement agreement unenforceable?
The decision in CFL Finance Ltd v Laser Trust & Gertner [2021] EWCA Civ 228 raised the issue as to whether a settlement agreement with an individual, where they were given time to pay, is a provision of credit for...
FOS: Independent Assessor’s Annual Report 2020-2021
Independent Assessor (IA), Dame Gillian Guy, has published her annual report of FOS for the year 2020-2021. The report looks at complaints received about the FOS and highlights areas for improvement. Key learning points...
IRSG report on the UK regulatory regime for overseas firms
The International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) has published a report analysing the UK’s access regimes for overseas firms, looking at the regulatory perimeter, the branching regime, the Overseas Person...
ASA rules against Cryptocurrency Ad
ASA has ruled against Luno Money’s poster ad for its cryptocurrency exchange service for failing to contain any risk warning that the value of Bitcoin could go down as well as up, in breach of CAP Code 3.1, 3.3...
FCA publishes Authorisations Quarterly KPIs
The FCA has published its Authorisations Quarterly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), providing key metrics on the performance of the FCA’s Authorisations Division. KPIs are provided for: Authorisations; Cancellations;...
Hannah FrostLSB considers the customer journey in a digital world
In January this year the Lending Standards Board (LSB) released a thought piece on the customer journey in the digital space, with the aim of promoting best practice and good customer outcomes in the provision of...
Covid-19 accelerates the use of electronic signatures in the legal sector – WBD case study and our top implementation tips
Covid-19 has accelerated the use of e-signatures in the legal sector. We have been using DocuSign for a number of years and have produced a joint case study with DocuSign on our e-signature roll-out and how we ramped...
Suzanne GadoIn Conversation on Debt
On 10 September we hosted the latest Retail Banking Mixer in our In Conversation series. This session focussed on debt in the retail banking sector and we were joined by Mayoor Patel, Head of Legal (Retail &...
EVENT: In Conversation on Debt
Join us on Thursday 10 September 2020 at 10am for our next Retail Banking Mixer – In Conversation. This webinar will focus on debt in the retail banking sector (including breathing space) and you will have the...
Changes to the provision of US dollar repo operations announced
The Bank of England has confirmed that it and other central banks have jointly decided that the frequency of 7-day US dollar operations will be reduced from three times per week to once per week. This operational...
Amelia GreenFCA sets out its views on Employer Salary Advance Schemes
The FCA has published a statement setting out its view of the risks and benefits of Employer Salary Advance Schemes (“ESAS“) and what employers and employees should consider when using them. ESAS are...
EVENT: Open Banking Webinar
Our next retail banking mixer by webinar will focus on open banking. Our session will include a brief introduction to the topics followed by a discussion that you’d be welcome to join in with: Open banking from a...
FCA publishes Insight on Coronavirus and intergenerational difference
FCA has published an Insight article on Coronavirus and intergenerational difference – the emerging picture. The article recognises that early data is beginning to reveal the pandemic’s effects on our...
UK Supreme Court decision narrows scope of the “reflective loss” principle
On 15 July, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the landmark case of Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd [2020] UKSC 31. The eagerly anticipated decision brings clarity to the “reflective loss” principle...
GDPR update: CJEU invalidates EU-US Privacy Shield Framework
We have written an update on the Court of Justice of the European Union’s highly anticipated decision in the Schrems II case.
EVENT: Retail Banking Mixer Webinar
Our next r=Retail Banking Mixer will be held by webinar on 18th June at 10am. We are delighted to be joined by Rosemary Ford and Amber Andrade from Deloitte this time. The webinar continues the focus on COVID-19. Our...
COVID-19: the Future Fund – bridge funding for UK start-ups
The Government is setting up a co-investment fund, known as the “Future Fund”, to provide convertible loans of between £125,000 and £5 million to UK high growth companies. The Future Fund should provide...
EVENT: Retail Banking Mixer
Our next Retail Banking Mixer will be held by webinar instead of in our London and Edinburgh offices. We’d be delighted if you could join us on Thursday 23rd April at 10am. Topics covered will be: ...
FCA latest Covid-19 advice for firms
Today, the FCA published its latest advice for firms in light of Covid-19. Regulatory Change – activity which is not critical to protect consumers and market integrity in the short-term will be delayed so that...
Covid-19: Business Continuity Planning
As the corona virus weaves its web around the globe, it’s time for regulated firms to look to their business continuity plans to ensure they are covered. Take a look at our article on the subject here and please...
Check out our recently updated timeline of the key developments in corporate and company law to keep an eye out for in 2020
The latest addition to our suite of online, interactive timelines is now available. Our Corporate timeline has recently been updated and provides an “at a glance” summary of the key legal developments in...
Financial Services team wins awards
We are delighted to have come home with 4 awards from this year’s Compliance Register Platinum awards ceremony. We won Best Law Firm, Best Team, and I (Emma) won Best Regulatory Lawyer and Best Compliance Trainer...
Financial Inclusion
On Tuesday night, we hosted our first ever Talking Money event in partnership with the Scotsman newspaper in our Edinburgh office. The event focused on the topic of tackling financial exclusion in Scotland. The...
Reserve your place: FUNDamental Series
Join us for our next FUNDamentals seminar in Edinburgh exploring Real Estate funds in more detail on 3rd December from 8.30am. This seminar will be hosted jointly with NCM Fund Services and Aberdeen Standard Investments...
Reserve your place: Tackling Financial Exclusion
Join our expert industry panel for an evening of networking and discussion focused on delivering an inclusive financial sector for Scotland. Help shape the conversation as we discuss: Are we too obsessed with a cashless...
Reserve your place: FUNDamental Series
Join us for the first in our series of Funds seminars in Edinburgh on 3 September. If you work with funds, are looking to set one up or even invest in one you’ll benefit from attending this seminar which is...
Paperless airports and strategic partnerships: what’s ripe for investment in fintech
Imagine walking into an airport without the need to use your passport. Mad right? But in reality, this is already happening. AI and the provision of strategic relationships by investors in the fintech sector are making...
Thank you to our readers
The FIN team was delighted to win two awards at the 2018 Compliance Register Platinum awards, including Best Consultancy/Law Firm – Regulatory Compliance. Thank you to those of you who nominated us and those who...