On 9 May 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued policy statement PS 25/4, setting out, and bringing into force, final rules on investment research payment options for fund managers.
The new rules follow the...more
On 7 April 2025, the United Kingdom’s HM Treasury opened a consultation (the Consultation) on proposals to streamline the regulatory framework for alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs). Alongside the Consultation, the...more
5/8/2025
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
HM Treasury ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Private Equity ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
UK
On 5 March 2025, the FCA published its findings from its multi-firm assessment of governance and valuation practices within the private market sector (Review) along with a press release. The Review focused on firms operating...more
In February 2025, Camille Blackburn, director at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), set out the FCA’s current supervisory priorities for the asset management and alternatives sector (Sector) in a “Dear CEO”...more
3/5/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Asset Management ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) recently delivered a series of speeches1 raising their concerns about the evolution of private equity financing and the...more
5/29/2024
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Bank of England ,
Capital Markets ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Policy Committee ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Private Equity ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Risk Management ,
UK
In March 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released two documents with its updated supervisory approach for the asset management and alternatives sector: the FCA’s 2024/25 Business Plan (the Business Plan), and a...more
In July 2023, the UK government published its findings from the Investment Research Review (Review) as part of the UK government’s Edinburgh Reforms. The Review made a number of recommendations to encourage research...more
Activist shareholders had a busy 2023: The incidence of activist campaigns in Europe soared by almost 70% compared to 2022, according to data compiled by Skadden and Activistmonitor. As we described in a previous issue of The...more
2/16/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Capital Markets ,
Disclosure ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Listing Rules ,
New Rules ,
Open-Ended Fund Companies (OFCs) ,
Private Equity ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Shareholders ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Stock Exchange ,
UK
On 28 November 2023, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) unveiled its Policy Statement PS 23/16 (Policy Statement), which sets out the final rules for sustainability disclosure and investment labels (SDR Rules). The...more
1/8/2024
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK
On 24 November 2023, the industry-led Technology Working Group of HM Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce (Group) released an interim report (Report) outlining a strategic blueprint for the implementation of fund...more
12/5/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
Innovative Technology ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Technology ,
Tokenization ,
UK
In a speech at the Investment Association’s Annual Dinner on 11 October 2023, Ashley Alder, chair of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), expanded upon the FCA’s discussion paper, “Updating and Improving the UK Regime...more
The European Commission recently launched two consultations — a public consultation and a targeted consultation (collectively, the Consultations) — seeking stakeholders’ feedback on potential changes to the Sustainable...more
10/18/2023
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
UK
On 20 February 2023, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a discussion paper titled “Updating and Improving the UK Regime for Asset Management” (Discussion Paper), seeking industry feedback on potential changes...more
The consultation period for the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) proposed rules for labelling ‘sustainable’ financial products formed or marketed in the UK ended 25 January 2023, and final rules are expected to be...more
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published final guidance (FG22/5) and a policy statement (PS22/9) for the new consumer duty (Duty) on 27 July 2022. The main rules will come into force on 31 July 2023 for existing...more
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently introduced important changes to the regime governing Appointed Representatives (ARs), which carry out regulated activity for which an authorised firm is responsible. The new...more
The UK financial services regulator Financial Conduct Authority’s latest three-year Strategy and annual Business Plan could have a significant impact on private capital sponsors and advisers and other asset managers....more
Throughout 2021, the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters proved to be even greater than many had expected, with ESG becoming a key area of focus for a range of stakeholders, particularly in the...more
The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced on 28 October 2021 that new climate-related disclosure requirements had been laid before the Houses of Parliament. The proposals, contained in...more
The rapidly growing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters that marked 2020 continued to shape events for companies operating or based in the U.K. and Europe in 2021. Discussions of ESG are occurring at...more
9/3/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Green Bonds ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK
In the middle of February 2019, Brexit continues to be debated between Westminster and Brussels, despite the rapidly approaching deadline for the United Kingdom (U.K.) to leave the European Union (EU) on March 29, 2019. With...more
2/14/2019
/ AIFM ,
AIFs ,
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
CSSF ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Fund Managers ,
Luxembourg ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Passporting ,
Private Funds ,
Transitional Arrangements ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
The U.K. Treasury recently published its response to its January 2013 consultation on transposing the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). A revised draft version of the Alternative Investment Fund...more