Global Financial Regulatory Blog

Insights and commentary on financial regulatory issues and developments impacting business and innovation in the US, Europe, Asia, and across the world.

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By: Latham & Watkins LLP

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Latham & Watkins LLP
Latham & Watkins

Latest from Global Financial Regulatory Blog

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The proposed amendments could significantly alter the landscape for extended settlement of securities offerings by expressly limiting the public offering exception for “when-issued” securities to equity IPOs. By: Senet S. Bischoff, Gregory P. Rodgers, Stephen P. Wink, and Naim Culhaci The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has proposed amendments to its margin requirement rules, which protect member firms against customer credit risk by generally requiring firms to collect margin when they extend…
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For market participants pivoting toward ESG and digital assets, weighing the issues at the crossroads of these two megatrends is critical. By Paul A. Davies, Stuart Davis, Simon Hawkins, Nicola Higgs, Yvette D. Valdez, Thomas Vogel, Stephen P. Wink, and Deric Behar The huge rise in popularity of Bitcoin — and the growing interest by mainstream financial institutions in virtual assets as an investable and tradable asset class…
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By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, Becky Critchley, and Anna Lewis-Martinez The latest edition of our Private Bank Briefing provides a roundup of legal and compliance issues impacting private banks and their clients from Q1 2021. In this edition, we cover some of the key regulatory announcements relating to MiFID II and the impact of COVID-19, the latest on Brexit, the FCA’s announcement on the dates for cessation of LIBOR…
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The CFTC continues to demonstrate a commitment to using its regulatory mandate to combat climate change risks to the US financial system. By Yvette D. Valdez, Douglas K. Yatter, Jean-Philippe Brisson, Paul Davies, Nicola Higgs, and Deric Behar On March 17, 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the establishment of an interdivisional Climate Risk Unit (CRU) to assess the risks to US financial stability posed by climate change.…
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ESMA and the EBA advise on KPIs for transparency on institutions’ environmentally sustainable activities, and the EBA consults on prudential disclosures of ESG risks under the CRR. By Nicola Higgs, Suzana Sava-Montanari, and Axel Schiemann On 26 February 2021, both the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued guidance on Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Firms in scope of the EU Taxonomy Regulation now have…
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By Becky Critchley and Anna Lewis-Martinez On 5 March 2021, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) formally announced the dates for the cessation of all London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) benchmark settings currently published by ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA). The FCA also confirmed that where a “synthetic” LIBOR is available after the cessation dates, the synthetic LIBOR will not in any event be considered to be representative as of the cessation dates. This is an…
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The CFTC and the DOJ both now pursue enforcement actions against trading in commodities based on misappropriation of confidential information. By Douglas K. Yatter, Sohom Datta, and Cameron J. Sinsheimer Among the many changes resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act, one that has been slow to develop, but broad in its significance, is the assertion of authority by the CFTC to police insider trading in commodities markets. Starting in 2015, the agency began bringing…
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The recommended reforms aim to make the UK’s listing regime more competitive while maintaining high standards of corporate governance, shareholder rights, and transparency. By Chris Horton, James Inness, and Anna Ngo A new independent review (the Review), led by Lord Hill, has been released that provides recommendations on how the UK can improve its listings regime. Published on 3 March 2021, the Review aims to impart recommendations that will improve the process of…
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FCA found instances of non-compliance with the product governance rules which, in its view, increases the risk of investor harm. By Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, and Jonathan Ritson-Candler Background On 26 February 2021, the FCA published a webpage setting out eight asset management firms’ implementation of the UK MiFID II product governance requirements. The sample reviewed consisted of asset managers with group assets under management ranging from £2 billion to over £100 billion,…
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An FCA report evaluates the chequered implementation of technology change and identifies risks and best practices to help firms better navigate this change. By Andrew C. Moyle, Alain Traill, and Jagveen S. Tyndall Of the nearly 1,000 “material incidents” reported to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2019, 17% were caused by change-related activity. It was against this backdrop that, on 5 February 2021, the FCA set out the findings of its…