Brexit & Financial Services: Preparing for the End of the Transition Period
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently published its first formal guidance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the provision of retail investment services. The guidance outlines AI’s potential...more
From 1 August 2024, the UK changed its rules on how payments are made for investment research. UK firms may now use bundled payments for third-party research and trading commissions, subject to certain requirements being...more
Welcome to the Regulation Round Up, a regular bulletin highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial services regulation....more
Major UK Listing Reforms Cut Red Tape for Listed Companies - The FCA’s radical overhaul of the UK’s listing framework came into effect on 29 July 2024. All premium listed commercial companies have automatically been...more
Further to its consultation in spring 2024, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed in Policy Statement PS24/9, “Payment Optionality for Investment Research,” that, with effect from today, 1 August 2024,...more
In our previous alert, Paying for Buy-Side Investment Research: Will the FCA’s Third Way Ease the US-UK Divide?, we discussed the consultation issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on proposed rules on payment...more
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a consultation on three proposed amendments to different aspects of the U.K. derivatives trading obligation. The consultation is part of the Wholesale Markets Review. The Markets...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a public statement on the transition to the new regime for post-trade transparency of OTC-transactions in light of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments...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....more
With the Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (the "AI Act") entering into force in due course, following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, there has been an increasing focus of supervisory bodies to provide...more
During his remarks at a meeting of the International Bar Association’s Asset Management Industry Conference on Global Challenges and Opportunities in Boston, Commissioner Uyeda commented on investment research and the...more
The European Commission has published consultation for a draft Delegated Regulation supplementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation as regards OTC derivatives identifying reference data to be used for the...more
The Council of the European Union has announced that it has agreed its negotiating position on the retail investment package and published the relevant texts. The package consists of an amending Directive, known as the...more
Key developments in May 2024: ESG: The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) updated its webpage on the sustainability disclosure requirements (“SDR”) and investments labelling regime. Among other things, the webpage has been...more
In this week’s edition, we discuss the U.S. government’s proposed guidelines for the ever-controversial voluntary carbon markets. In the EU, ESMA published a report of its findings on greenwashing in the marketing materials...more
Background - On 23 May 2024, Ashley Alder, the Chair of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), delivered a speech which outlined the regulator’s agenda for the asset management sector (the “Speech”). In particular,...more
Acknowledging that high-quality, easily available investment research supports deep capital markets, listed companies, and economic growth, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently issued a consultation paper...more
The Markets in Financial Instruments (Equivalence) (United States of America) (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/638) were made on May 14, 2024 and entered into force on June 4, 2024. In...more
On 10 April 2024, the FCA published its consultation paper (CP24/7) on payment optionality for investment research. This followed the Investment Research Review’s report from summer 2023, which recommended that the FCA should...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is planning to lift its ban on asset managers making joint or ‘bundled’ payments to broker-dealers for third-party investment research and execution services. The change is being...more
Financial Markets Infrastructure: The Bank of England published a speech by Sasha Mills, Executive Director, Financial Market Infrastructure, on operational resilience and its expectations of financial market infrastructures...more
Since 3 January 2018, firms that provide portfolio management or investment advice on an independent basis must pay for the research they obtain, either by absorbing the cost of the research themselves or by passing on that...more
On 8 March 2024, the final consolidated revised Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (Regulation (EU) 2024/791) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) (Directive (EU) 2024/790) texts were...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking views on proposed rules that would allow asset managers to opt for bundled payments for third-party investment research, reversing a significant aspect of the UK’s...more
On 10 April 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper proposing the introduction of a ‘new’ option for investment research payments, alongside the existing two options (CP24/7). In essence,...more