The U.K. government has published a draft version of the Short Selling Regulations 2024. The draft SSR 2024 will replace the existing U.K. Short Selling Regulation, which was onshored from the EU and which is being repealed...more
U.K. EMIR (the onshored European Market Infrastructure Regulation) generally requires the clearing at a central counterparty of all interest rate swaps and credit default swaps. As announced earlier this year, HM Treasury has...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has opened a call for evidence on shortening the settlement cycle in the EU. The existing EU settlement cycle for trades in transferable securities executed on trading venues is...more
Over a year has now passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the U.S., the EU and its member states, the U.K., and many others—including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Canada—continue to exert pressure on Russia...more
The EU’s Taxonomy Regulation entered into force on 12 July 2020. It created a framework relating to the reporting of environmental sustainability of economic activities and investments. It does this by defining various...more
The report and recommendations of the UK Investment Research Review were published on July 10, 2023. The recommendations have been accepted by the government and the Financial Conduct Authority has committed to prioritizing...more
The U.K.’s newest Financial Services and Markets Act of 2023 (“FSM Act”) received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. Certain parts came into force on its passing, others will come into effect two months after that, and the...more
8/1/2023
/ Competition ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services and Markets Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
Prospectus ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Securitization ,
Solvency II ,
UK
On June 27, 2023, the EU and U.K. signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Financial Services Cooperation, a high-level agreement on future cooperation in the regulation of financial services. The MoU provides for -
-...more
The EU published a new Sustainable finance package 2023 on June 13, 2023. The package includes -
- A Proposed Regulation on the transparency and integrity of ESG rating activities, which aims to enhance the quality of ESG...more
The issue of how firms should pay for investment research continues to be a controversial topic in the financial markets. The U.S. has maintained the approach it adopted before the mid-2000s, which is to permit investment...more
7/3/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Market Research ,
MiFID II ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
On May 23, 2023, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions launched a consultation on proposed policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets. IOSCO is proposing that the final recommendations,...more
On May 24, 2023, the European Commission published a Retail Investment Strategy package aimed at enhancing retail investor protections across the EU and encouraging participation in the EU capital markets. The package...more
6/6/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Capital Markets ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
MiFID II ,
UK
On May 18, 2023, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the intergovernmental organization for modernizing and coordinating private law, published a set of draft Principles on Digital...more
On April 20, 2023, the agreed text of the proposed European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation was given final approval by the European Parliament. The Regulation is intended to improve legal certainty in the regulatory...more
5/10/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
European Parliament ,
Financial Services and Markets Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Member State ,
Popular ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
On April 20, 2023, the European Parliament announced that it had formally endorsed the draft Regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds and crypto assets (referred to here as the EU Travel Rule Regulation). The...more
The U.K. Investment Research Review call for evidence was published on April 3, 2023. Relevant background to these issues is set out in our recent client note, “MiFID II: An Update on the Rules for Unbundling of Research,” in...more
On February 2, 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority published a final report and an Opinion on the trading venue perimeter. The Opinion clarifies the definition of multilateral systems under the EU’s revised...more
The issue of how investment research should be paid for by investors is controversial, long-standing and seemingly perennially the subject of legislative iterations, failure and unintended consequence and more reform. Before...more
The European Commission published proposals to amend the EU’s European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) in December 2022 (EMIR 3). According to the Commission, some of these measures are aimed at improving the...more
The U.K. Government announced on 9 December 2022 a series of initiatives, billed as the Edinburgh Reforms, to reform the laws for the U.K. financial services sector. In this note, we consider these reforms in detail and what...more
12/21/2022
/ Banking Sector ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its Final Report and draft Regulatory Technical Standards amending the cash penalty process for cleared transactions under the EU Central Securities Depositories...more
The International Organization of Securities Commissions has published a consultation on Compliance Carbon Markets and a separate discussion paper on voluntary carbon markets. Compliance Carbon Markets involve the issuance of...more
The U.K. Government has published the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, known as the Brexit Freedoms Bill, which aims to repeal or assimilate retained EU law and abolish the principle of the supremacy of EU law in...more
The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority have issued a joint consultation paper on proposals to amend the U.K. Binding Technical Standards on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has opened a consultation in which it proposes to amend the cash penalty process for cleared transactions under the EU Central Securities Depositories Regulation. The EU CSDR...more