Podcast — UK FinReg Focus Areas in 2025: Wholesale Markets
Brexit & Financial Services: Preparing for the End of the Transition Period
The draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Mutual Recognition Agreement) (Switzerland) Regulations 2025 have been laid before Parliament and published with a draft explanatory memorandum. The Regulations seek to...more
The OTC Derivatives Risk Mitigation and Central Counterparties (Equivalence) (Switzerland) Regulations 2025 have been laid before Parliament and published with an explanatory memorandum. The Regulations, made on 16 July,...more
This note discusses the European Banking Authority’s (EBA’s) report, published on July 23, 2025, which addresses whether and when EU non-bank entities should be allowed to deal with locally unregulated non-EU banks. In some...more
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been causing serious consequences in several countries. Italy has been one of the most affected countries since February 2020 and the implications of a considerable spread of the contagion over the...more
The AMF has published a report containing a number of new proposals relating to production of research under MiFID II. Key Points: ..The report pointedly criticises the original MiFID requirements (most of which were...more
Firms outside of Europe should be aware of planned upcoming changes to how they access European markets. Key Points: ..The EU legislators have been reviewing various financial services regimes and developing reforms...more
The EC consults on existing cryptoasset regulatory framework and considers a separate EU framework for cryptoassets outside the current scope. On 19 December 2019, the European Commission (EC) launched a public...more
BROKER-DEALER - FINRA Expands Transparency Initiative Related to OTC Equity Trading Volume - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) previously announced an expansion to its ongoing transparency initiative...more
1 November - The Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") published a Dear CEO letter in relation to the reliability of regulatory returns. Firms are expected, if asked, to be able to respond promptly to a request from...more
The Financial Stability Board has published a report on the progress its member jurisdictions have made in 2019 on the implementation of agreed G20 reforms to over-the-counter derivatives markets. The report finds that there...more
The Financial Stability Board has published a report on the progress its member jurisdictions have made in implementing the agreed G20 reforms to over-the-counter derivatives markets in 2018. The report finds that good...more
Financial institutions M&A sector trends: asset/wealth management — H1 2019 and outlook for H2 2019 - CURRENT MARKET - Consistent, high activity levels. WE ARE SEEING - Industry consolidation—mostly smaller deals....more
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - The New European Parliament: More Fragmentation, Ad Hoc Coalitions, And Greener Policies? The results of the May 2019 European Parliament (“EP”) elections resulted in a more complex European...more
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
This client memorandum concerns a highly technical point of considerable practical importance. It challenges aspects of the received wisdom that, for post-Brexit cross-border investment business conducted from the U.K. into...more
The House of Commons recently rejected the Withdrawal Agreement. While the UK Parliament is still debating how to leave the EU, a hard Brexit remains an option. To prepare for this possibility, the UK, EU Commission and EU27...more
Due to the increasing awareness of the importance of environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") initiatives, the European Commission came forward at the end of May 2018 with a proposal related to this topic. The proposal...more
The Court Decision: On September 25, 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Berlin held that bitcoins would not qualify as financial instruments for the purposes of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, "KWG"), thus...more
SEC/CORPORATE - California Adopts Law Regarding Female Representation on Boards of Directors of Publicly Held Companies - On September 30, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law California Senate Bill 826 (SB...more
The performance of investment services and activities by entities established in third countries in Italy is becoming an increasing concern among specialized operators for the obvious reason, which will be discussed...more
Guidance of questionable legal accuracy from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) casts doubt on the ability of non-EU members of EU exchanges to provide client access to such exchanges through a technique...more
On October 26, 2017, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, European Commission and the UK Financial Conduct Authority released, in a coordinated manner, a series of significant orders and guidance to address some of the...more
OFR Issues Report Challenging Standard for Identifying Systematically Important Banks - On October 26, 2017, the Office of Financial Research ("OFR"), an arm of the Treasury Department, issued a Report of its Director that...more
La prestazione in Italia di servizi ed attività di investimento da parte di soggetti insediati in paesi terzi sembra stia diventando sempre più di maggior interesse tra gli operatori specializzati, per le ovvie ragioni di cui...more
US and EU authorities have finally moved to solve the cross-border issues arising from MiFID II rules on research unbundling. Key Points: - The US SEC has published three temporary “no action” letters, which are...more