On 27 June 2023, the UK signed a long-awaited Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") with the European Union ("EU") to increase co-operation on financial services.
The MoU has been a long time coming: regulatory cooperation...more
28 June 2021 is the deadline for UK Financial Holding Companies ("FHC") and Mixed Financial Holding Companies ("MFHC") to submit their application for approval or exemption under the UK's implementation of the Capital...more
On 5 December 2019 the Bank of England (Bank), UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published coordinated consultation papers and policy on new requirements to strengthen...more
3/12/2020
/ Bank of England ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
CEOs ,
Cloud Computing ,
Consultation Papers ,
Contingency Plans ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Central Bank ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Market Participants ,
Outsourcing ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Risk Management ,
Security Risk Assessments ,
SMCR ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
On 31 January 2020 - the very date of the UK's withdrawal from the EU - the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a consultation on draft technical standards underpinning the recently revised EU market...more
On 31 July 2019 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published final Guidance on the cryptoasset activities within its regulatory perimeter, in response to feedback on its January 2019 consultation paper and as trailed in...more
8/10/2019
/ Cryptocurrency ,
E-Money ,
E-money tokens ,
Exchange Tokens ,
Final Guidance ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
International Harmonization ,
Money Transfer ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Public Consultations ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Tokens ,
SMCR ,
Tech Neutrality ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Regulated Activities Order (RAO Amendments) ,
Utility Tokens
On 1 August 2019, the UK FCA published an article titled "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Boardroom" in its Insight series of opinion and analysis. Its author, Magnus Falk, a senior technology adviser at the FCA who used...more
8/6/2019
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Ethical Standards ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Legal Ethics ,
Popular ,
Senior Managers ,
Supervisors ,
UK
On 18 July 2019 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on the EU regulatory perimeter, national regulatory status and EU national regulators' (NCAs') authorisation approaches for FinTech firms conducting...more
7/25/2019
/ Banking Sector ,
Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRDIV) ,
Crowdfunding ,
Cryptoassets ,
Electronic Payment Transactions ,
EMD2 ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Commission ,
FinTech ,
NCAs ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Popular ,
PSD2 ,
Regulatory Oversight
On 12 July 2019 the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) reported on the status of FinTech firm licensing regimes across the EU, based on two ESMA surveys of EU national competent authorities (NCAs). ESMA's report...more
7/17/2019
/ Crowdfunding ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Innovation Hubs ,
Licensing Rules ,
MiFID II ,
NCAs ,
Outsourcing ,
Popular ,
Sandbox
On 3 July 2019, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority published a consultation paper in which it proposed to prohibit the sale to all retail clients of derivatives and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) that reference certain types...more
7/11/2019
/ Annual Reports ,
CATF Report ,
CFD Trading ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
ETFs ,
Federal Bans ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FSMA ,
Investor Protection ,
Public Consultations ,
Retail Investors ,
UK
The impact of crypto-assets on the global financial system continues to be a subject of debate for regulatory and supervisory authorities....more
7/5/2019
/ Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) ,
Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI) ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
FATF ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Stability Board ,
Global Market ,
International Standards ,
IOSCO ,
OECD ,
Trading Platforms
Currently, cryptoasset exchanges and wallet providers are not generally required (depending on their business model) to identify their customers, monitor transactions or report suspicious activity. On 15 April HM Treasury...more
4/20/2019
/ AMLD IV ,
Bitcoin ,
Consultation ,
Consultation Periods ,
Cryptoassets ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Digital Assets ,
EU Directive ,
Exchange Tokens ,
HM Treasury ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
MLD5 ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transmitter ,
Open Source Software ,
Peer-to-Peer ,
Privacy Coins ,
Securities Tokens ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
UK Cryptoassets Taskforce ,
Utility Tokens ,
Virtual Currency
Partners Julia Smithers Excell and Stuart Willey, and associate Laura Kitchen of global law firm White & Case take a deep dive on the latest publications from EU and UK regulators aimed at providing supervisory clarity on the...more
4/1/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank of England ,
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) ,
Bearer Shares ,
Collective Investment Schemes ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cryptoassets ,
CSDR ,
Debt Instruments ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Electronic Payment Transactions ,
EU ,
EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU MAR) ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Commission ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Exchange Tokens ,
FATF ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Instruments ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Information Reports ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Member State ,
MiFID II ,
Popular ,
Prospectus ,
PSD2 ,
Securities ,
Securities Tokens ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
UK Regulated Activities Order (RAO Amendments) ,
Utility Tokens
Essential features of bank capital regulation across Europe in one handy wall chart.
Regulatory capital requirements for prudentially supervised financial services companies across Europe are complex and changing rapidly....more
3/26/2019
/ Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) ,
Banks ,
Capital Markets ,
Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) ,
CRD IV Directive ,
Credit ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Insolvency ,
MREL ,
TLAC
NPLs are a hot topic, high on the European supervisory authorities' agenda. Legislative and prudential requirements to reduce NPLs are rapidly evolving. In March of 2018, the EC published a package of reforms aimed at...more
3/16/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Banking Sector ,
Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) ,
Credit ,
Distressed Debt ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Council ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Greece ,
IFRS ,
Member State ,
Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ,
Proposed Amendments
The UK FCA launched on 23 January 2019 its highly anticipated consultation1 (CP19/3) on Guidance for market participants as to where certain cryptoassets sit in relation to the regulatory perimeter - and whether relevant...more
1/28/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Collective Investment Schemes ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Debt Instruments ,
Ether ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Market Abuse ,
Market Participants ,
MiFID II ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Prospectus ,
Securities ,
Securities Tokens ,
SMCR ,
Token Sales ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
UK Regulated Activities Order (RAO Amendments) ,
Utility Tokens
On 9 January 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA)1 and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)2 published two reports with their advice on cryptoassets for the European Commission (EC) (and in ESMA's case,...more
1/15/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptocurrency ,
CSDR ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU MAR) ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
MiFID II ,
Risk Management ,
Securities ,
Virtual Currency