On 7 June 2023, the U.K. government published a statutory instrument (the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) (Amendment) Order 2023 (FP (Amendment) Order) and related explanatory memorandum)...more
6/13/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
New Legislation ,
Securities ,
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 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. government has published its much-anticipated proposals for regulating the cryptoasset industry. These proposals, currently in the form of a consultation, will see many (but not all) cryptoasset-related activities...more
The Bank of England has published a joint consultation paper with HM Treasury on the possibility of a digital pound in the U.K. It is envisaged that the digital pound would be a retail central bank digital currency, to be...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 U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation paper on proposed guidance on the regulatory perimeter for multilateral trading facilities and on possible future changes to smaller trading venues' regulatory...more
The Financial Stability Board has issued a statement on international regulation and supervision of crypto-asset activities. The statement is made in light of the crypto-asset market turmoil. The statement warns crypto-asset...more
9/19/2022
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Stability Board ,
FinTech ,
Payment Services Directive ,
Payment Systems ,
UK
The European Securities and Markets Authority has launched a consultation on proposed guidelines on standard forms, formats and templates to apply for permission to operate distributed ledger technology for market...more
Following its consultation last year, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has launched a second consultation on bank prudential requirements for exposures to crypto-assets. The first consultation set out a preliminary...more
The Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority (together, the supervisory authorities) have published a discussion paper proposing measures to supervise and enhance the resilience of...more
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a Policy Statement and final rules on improvements to the Appointed Representatives regime. The AR regime allows authorized firms to appoint representatives to conduct...more
HM Treasury has opened a consultation on payments regulation and the systemic perimeter. The consultation arose out of the Payments Landscape Review and the government’s commitment to consult on bringing systemically...more
HM Treasury has launched an inquiry into the role of crypto-assets in the U.K. and their regulatory framework. The inquiry poses questions on a range of subjects, including the likelihood of digital currencies (e.g.,...more
Following the Call for Evidence on digital assets in 2021, the U.K. Law Commission has issued a consultation on proposals to reform the law of England and Wales to recognize and protect the rights of users of digital assets....more
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published its final Policy Statement and Rules on financial promotions of high-risk investments and firms approving financial promotions. Many of these changes address or build upon...more
The U.K. Jurisdiction Taskforce has published a consultation on the issuance and transfer of "digital securities" under English law. Digital securities are shares, bonds and other debt securities which are constituted by...more
The House of Commons Treasury Committee has published a report on the Future of Financial Services Regulation setting out its view on the priorities for regulatory change in the U.K. now that the U.K. has left the EU. The...more
The EU has published in the Official Journal of the European Union its Regulation on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology. The pilot regime will permit certain DLT market...more
Following the Queen's speech yesterday, the government has published a briefing pack setting out details of the bills that it intends to introduce, including the so-called Brexit Freedoms Bill as well as key legislation...more
5/24/2022
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Insider Trading ,
MiFID II ,
Sanctions ,
Securities ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
The European Banking Authority has published a report on the EU non-bank lending sector i.e., the growing number of financial intermediaries operating outside the EU financial services regulatory perimeter, including BigTech...more
The Financial Stability Board has published a letter to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors outlining its work priorities for 2022, which are...more
The Financial Stability Board has published a report on the risks that crypto-assets pose to global financial stability. The FSB observes that the crypto-assets market is growing rapidly and could reach a point where it poses...more