On 4 November 2019, the FCA published a letter sent by the head of its Asset Management Department, Nick Miller, to the Chairs of Authorised Fund Managers (AFMs) in relation to good practices for effective liquidity management. Mr Miller starts by stressing that AFMs are responsible for ensuring effective fund liquidity, even if investment management has been delegated to another person. Notwithstanding the fact that open-ended funds are not always able to liquidate assets sufficiently…

As previously advertised, this month’s financial services briefing will take place tomorrow in the form of a webinar rather than a seminar. In this webinar we will discuss the proposed approach to the prudential classification of investment firms and the new capital requirements methodology. We will then look at the new reporting requirements and remuneration provisions. Firm classification The K-factor formula Disclosure and reporting requirements Remuneration Further information and registration can be found here. The…

On 28 October 2019, the House of Commons Treasury Committee published a report on IT failures in the financial services sector. The report sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations following a series of written submissions from various stakeholders (see previous blog here). These recommendations include: further regulatory intervention to improve the operational resilience of the financial services sector. The FCA and PRA must give as much prominence to regulating operational risk and…

On 8 October 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its final report on a set of draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on co-operation arrangements under the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). Article 26 of MAR mandates ESMA to develop draft RTS containing a template document for cooperation arrangements that are to be used by Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) where possible for cooperation with the supervisory authorities of third countries. ESMA was…

On 4 October 2019, the FCA published issue 24 of its Primary Market Bulletin (PMB). This issue of PMB provides an update on Brexit and a brief overview of the FCA’s proposals in relation to the European single electronic format (ESEF) requirements which apply to issuers on EU markets from 1 January 2020. The PMB also provides an outline of the FCA’s thematic review into understanding the money laundering risks in capital markets and provides…

On 1 October 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final guidelines on risk factors under the Prospectus Regulation. There are minor amendments to the draft guidelines published in March 2019 (see previous blog here) including the insertion of 1 December 2019 as the date from which the guidelines will apply, but otherwise they remain unchanged. Member State national competent authorities must notify ESMA whether they comply or intend to comply…

On 30 September 2019, the FCA published Policy Statement 19/24: Illiquid assets and open-ended funds and feedback to Consultation Paper 18/27 (PS19/24). In October 2018, the FCA consulted on changes intended to reduce the risk of poor outcomes to retail investors in open-ended funds, specifically non-UCITS retail schemes (NURSs), that invest in illiquid assets (see previous blog here). In PS19/24, the FCA summarises the feedback it received to the consultation, its response to…