Iona Wright (UK)

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Firm/Organization: Norton Rose Fulbright
Blogs: Financial services: Regulation tomorrow

Latest Articles

On 6 March 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a speech by its Chair, Steven Maijoor, which discusses priorities for the asset management sector. Mr Maijoor focuses his remarks on how people’s investments in financial products progress over time, and the role of costs. Firstly, Mr Maijoor talks through ESMA’s first annual costs and performance report on retail investment products. In particular, he highlights how costs affect value of an investment over…
On 26 February 2019, the FCA published a letter responding to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) letter of 12 December 2018 which concerned the CMA’s findings and remedies from its market investigation into the supply and acquisition of investment consultancy and fiduciary management services. The FCA’s letter notes that the CMA identified a number of remedies and supporting recommendations to address the issues that they had identified in their market investigation. Following on from…
The following EU Exit statutory instruments have been made: Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, together with an explanatory memorandum (our earlier blog is here); and The Social Entrepreneurship Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, together with an explanatory memorandum (our earlier blog is here). You can track the financial services Brexit EU Exit statutory instruments (as well as gain access to our Brexit resources) on our…
On 20 February 2019, the Investment Association (IA) published fund communication guidance. The guidance is part of the industry response to the FCA Asset Management Market Study which highlighted, among other things, the difficulty for customers of knowing what to expect from their fund and how to assess whether or not it was performing against its stated objectives. The purpose of the guidance is to help IA members implement clearer and more consistent customer…
On 18 February 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it had agreed to renew the prohibition of the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients, in effect since 2 July 2018, for a further three-month period. ESMA intends to adopt the renewal measure in the official languages of the EU in the coming weeks, following which it will publish an official notice on its website. The measure will…
On 13 February 2019, the FCA published a speech by Julia Hogett (JH) (Director of Market Oversight at the FCA) on the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). Highlights of the speech include the following: compliance with MAR requires a whole series of situational judgements to be made; a regulatory system that relies on controls that work by detecting when an event has happened, will never be as effective as a system that also…
The webex recording of our February 40 minute briefing, Buy-side focus, is now available. To access the recording, please click here. To register for or access our Asset Management Regulation Hub referenced in the briefing, please click here. The Asset Management Regulation Hub is a free service in which you will find resources to help monitor the regulatory developments surrounding the AIFMD and UCITS Directive, including our new cross-border surveys. On the same…
On 8 February 2019, the Council of the EU published three notes (dated 4 February 2019)  to delegations setting out compromise proposals relating to the European Commission’s proposed legislative reforms to the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS): Omnibus Regulation on reforms to the ESFS; Omnibus Directive amending MiFID II; and Regulation amending the Regulation establishing the European Systemic Risk Board. The Presidency has invited the Council to agree on a general approach for the…
On 8 February 2019, the FCA published the 20th edition of Primary Market Bulletin (the PMB). The PMB provides general news and developments within the FCA’s regulatory sphere, as well as changes the FCA has, or is going to make, to its Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Base is the FCA’s source of technical guidance on the Listing Rules, Prospectus Rules and Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The information is designed to help issuers and practitioners interpret…
On 5 February 2019, the Council of the EU announced that political agreement on simpler and quicker cross-border distribution of investment funds had been reached between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. The proposal, which consists of a draft Regulation and draft Directive, is designed to improve transparency and harmonises diverging national rules: the draft Regulation improves transparency by aligning national marketing requirements and regulatory fees. It introduces more consistency in the…