Germany has adopted a new regulatory regime for crypto assets in connection with the implementation of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). On 29 November 2019, the second chamber of the German parliament (Bundesrat) approved the “Act on the Implementation of the Amendment Directive to the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive” (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Änderungs­richt­linie zur Vierten EU-Geldwäscherichtlinie) which will enter into force on 1 January 2020. The German AMLD5 implementation act (link to the…

On 5 December 2019, the PRA published Consultation Paper: Outsourcing and third party risk management (CP30/19). In CP30/19 the PRA sets out its proposals for modernising the regulatory framework on outsourcing and third-party risk management. The PRA’s proposals pursue the following objectives: complement the policy proposals on operational resilience in Consultation Paper: Operational resilience: impact tolerances for important business services (CP29/19), which was published alongside CP30/19; facilitate greater resilience and adoption of the cloud and other…

On 5 December 2019, the FCA, PRA and Bank of England (together the regulators) published joint consultation papers on operational resilience in the financial services sector. The proposals develop and expand on the ideas set out in the regulators discussion paper in 2018 (see previous blog here). The proposals set requirements and expectations for firms and financial market infrastructure to identify their important business services by considering how disruption to the business services they…

On 5 December 2019, the Council of the EU published an outcome of proceedings document setting out the conclusions on strategic priorities on anti-money laundering (AML) and countering terrorist financing (CTF). These conclusions were adopted by the Council in its configuration as the Economic and Financial Affairs Council at its 3736th meeting held on 5 December 2019 in Brussels. The Council highlights that the fight against AML and terrorist financing remains a high priority for…

On 5 December 2019, the Council of the EU (Council) published a press release stating that the Council and the European Commission (Commission) have adopted a joint statement on stablecoins. The statement calls for a co-ordinated global response to tackle the challenges raised by global stablecoins and a emphasises the need to ensure legal clarity about the status of stablecoin arrangements. Entities intending to issue stablecoins, or conduct other activities involving them in the EU,…

On 5 December 2019, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published its final report on regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the risk mitigation techniques for over-the-counter (OTC) derivative contracts not cleared by a central counterparty under Article 11(15) of the regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR) The draft RTS proposes amendments to the Commission Delegated Regulation on bilateral margining (the Delegated Regulation) to take into account the international…

On 5 December 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published updated versions of its Q&As on market structures and transparency under the MiFID II Directive and MiFIR. The updated Q&As on market structures inserts a new question and answer into section 3 on Direct Electronic Access and algorithmic trading (Q&A 31), which clarifies the scope of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/584. It also inserts a new question and answer into section 5 on…