On 23 April 2019, the FCA published a feedback statement (FS19/2) to its July 2018 discussion paper on a new duty of care. FS19/2 provides a detailed overview of responses received to its discussion paper; the FCA notes responses were ‘constructive’. The context for a new duty of care is that stakeholders in the financial services sector have previously informed the FCA that its regulatory framework, including its Principles for Businesses (the Principles), may not…

We have launched a new video series in which members of our financial services team discuss key regulatory developments within the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) sector. In our first video of the series, Imogen Garner, Beth Duff and Simon Lovegrove discuss the evolving ESG regulatory landscape.…

On 18 April 2019, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter which explains its view of the key harms that brokerage firms operating in wholesale financial markets pose to their clients and markets. The letter also sets out the FCA’s strategy to mitigate the drivers of those harms. In terms of Brexit, the letter states: “We expect the senior managers of firms to take responsibility for ensuring that its plan will allow the firm to…

On 18 April 2019, the Bank of England (BoE) and the PRA co-published a joint Policy Statement which includes final versions of policy materials for a hard Brexit including EU Exit Instruments, Supervisory Statements and a Statement of Policy, which were published as ‘near’ final on 28 February 2019. This version of the Policy Statement (PRA PS5/19) supplements the February 2019 version.  The BoE and the PRA have not changed the policy or significantly altered…

On April 17, 2019, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had designated Banco Central de Venezuela (Banco Central), the country’s Central Bank, as subject to U.S. economic sanctions. A current director also was sanctioned; several other Banco Central management and directors previously had been designated for economic sanctions. The designation means that all property and interest in property of Banco Central and the director and any entity that is…

Further to our earlier blog post, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) has taken national measures mirroring ESMA’s product intervention measures. These measures – included in two separate Decrees, one dealing with binary options and the other with contracts for differences (CFDs) – were published in the Dutch Government Gazette on 17 April 2019 and are effective as of 19 April 2019. The national product intervention measures prohibit binary…

On 17 April 2019, the FCA published the latest issue of Market Watch (no. 59), its newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues. This issue of Market Watch covers: transaction reporting observations from the FCA. The FCA discusses some of the issues its Markets Reporting Team have found regarding the accuracy and completeness of transaction reporting and instrument reference data. The FCA stresses the importance of market participants maintaining adequate procedures, systems and controls…