On 15 July 2025, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered her Mansion House 2025 speech unveiling the Leeds Reforms, a programme for financial services reforms to drive investment and growth in the sector....more
The UK government’s latest communications on 15 July 2025 in connection with the Chancellor’s annual Mansion House speech, and the launch of its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, signals the government’s...more
HM Treasury (HMT) has published a policy note and draft statutory instrument on the ancillary activities exemption, which is an exemption (originally introduced in the revised EU Markets in Financial Services Directive) from...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on its proposed revised approach to the ancillary activities test (AAT). The AAT is the test that firms must conduct to determine whether they can use an...more
Final report recommends the digitisation of UK shareholdings through a fully intermediated system of shareholding, with an interim phase of digitised share registers....more
Multinational groups adopting cost contribution arrangements (CCAs) — or cost share agreements in US parlance — as part of their cross-border intellectual property (IP) development strategies have a new opportunity to...more
The first half of 2025 brought significant developments in the regulation of digital and cryptoassets in the UK and EU. In this half-year update, we review these and look ahead to likely developments in the UK and EU in the...more
On June 26, 2025, the UK government brought into force the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2025 (the “2025 Amendment”), marking a notable development in the UK government’s sanctions...more
HM Treasury has published a policy paper setting out an update to its final position to its 2024 consultation on regulating Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) products which led to the laying of the draft secondary legislation, The...more
In this weekly update, we summarise the most notable updates in the UK sanctions world. Russia Sanctions UK government adds 10 new entries and specifies 20 ships under the Russia regime: On June 17, 2025, the UK government...more
A number of responses to the Consultation and Call for Input: Future regulation of alternative fund managers published by HM Treasury and the FCA on 7 April have been recently published. These reveal a diversity of views...more
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (Exemption from Stamp Duties) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/666) have been published, alongside an explanatory memorandum. The regulations exempt the transfer of a...more
In November, we covered the UK government’s proposal to overhaul the tax treatment of carried interest in the United Kingdom—an effort to close perceived loopholes by shifting carried interest fully into the income tax...more
Following the publication by HM Treasury of the draft legislation establishing a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets in the UK, on 28 May 2025 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation...more
Mayer Brown’s UK Regulatory Update is a quarterly newsletter for the asset management sector. In this edition, covering Q1 2025, we look at consultations relating to the UK AIFMD framework, reporting and notification...more
The EU and UK sanctions regimes on Russia continue to expand as both jurisdictions seek to increase pressure on President Putin. As with previous recent packages, Russia’s military, energy and financial sectors have again...more
On 15 May 2025, the UK government published a policy paper summarising findings from a cross-government review of sanctions implementation and enforcement. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office led the review in...more
In this horizon scan for private investment funds, which is aimed at managers based in Europe, we have set out the some of the principal legal and regulatory-focused developments to look out for in the coming months....more
I. U.S. Sanctions - President Trump Threatens Sanctions on Russia Following Drone Attack on Ukraine: On May 28, Bloomberg reported that President Trump said he was “‘absolutely’ considering new sanctions against Russia as...more
The Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Act 2025 (Act) received Royal asset on 15 May 2025. Although deceptively short and dependant on the passing of further regulations in order to come into effect, it introduces significant...more
HM Treasury (HMT) has published Phase 1 of its two-part consultation on reforming the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA), accompanied by an updated webpage. The proposals aim to modernise the CCA to better align with new...more
HM Treasury (HMT) has published a response to its 2024 consultation on regulating Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) products and laid the draft secondary legislation (Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities etc)...more
In October 2024, HM Treasury (HMT) published a consultation paper amid perceived concerns related to the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) sector, including uninformed consumer decisions, affordability checks and levels of...more
The Treasury (HMT) launched a consultation and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a call for input in April 2025 kick-starting a review of the UK’s regulatory regime for Alternative Investment Fund Managers...more
HM Treasury has confirmed its approach to the regulation of Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) lending in its response to the October 2024 consultation. On 19 May 2025, Government also laid draft legislation before Parliament. Given...more