RegTech IntelligenceNow seems to be the time for vital standards discussions on financial services technology. But perhaps the overarching questions for a global industry like FinTech are: who sets the standards and how? Of late, bodies like the EC have begun asking such questions, for example in their Q2 FinTech consultation. Our view is that we
The implementation of trade and transaction reporting was intended to improve transparency and mitigate systematic risk in the derivatives markets. To achieve this, global leaders have committed to implement standards globally and consistently in a way that ensures a level playing field – reducing market fragmentation and regulatory arbitrage. Whilst progress has been made on
Introduction With less than 5 months left before the deadline for MiFID II on 3 January 2018, firms are still grappling with the implementation of MiFID II. One key area is the new product governance framework which has been enacted with the objective of ensuring that firms act in the best interests of their clients
Regulation is constantly changing and evolving, reflecting the turbulent and innovative nature of financial services, with hundreds of regulators in different regions and financial spheres formulating regimes and detailing the obligations firms must prove compliance with. The implication for any firm is that keeping track can be a drain on resources – and risky if
As the EU-28 evolves into the EU-27, the European Commission (EC) has ensured their members that this will only be a bump in the road towards financial integration. The flagship initiative of the European Commission, the “Capital Markets Union Action Plan”, recently underwent a mid-term review of progress so far, highlighting both the achievements and
The clock is ticking and the EU market has less than half a year left to implement the regulatory changes required from it. The revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) sets new legislation effective 3 January 2018, containing a range of complex provisions intended to enhance transparency and investor protection within the financial
The FCA has released its final report on the Asset Management Market Study, which was launched in order to understand how asset managers compete to deliver value to clients, highlighting the weak price competition in several areas, issues with lack of clarity over charges and objectives. The study was launched in November 2015, with an
On 12 June 2017, the US Treasury released the first in what will be a series of financial regulatory reports in accordance with Executive Order 13772 signed by President Trump. The publishing of “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities – Banks and Credit Unions” now gives us a better understanding of what the future
Commodity derivative trading is just one of the many topic areas under MiFID II that firms need to ensure they are prepared for before 3 January 2018. One set of measurements in this area is that firms will be required to report commodities positions to National Competent Authorities (NCAs) on a daily basis. Another is
JWG would like to thank over 300 attendees for being part of our MiFID II implementation webinar on Wednesday 12 July. We received some excellent feedback from attendees and we hope you took away valuable insight about how to gear-up your programmes. As mentioned, the webinar video recording and our report ‘Who is ready for
In the eight years since the G20’s Pittsburgh summit, regulatory forces have reshaped the complexity of market infrastructure. Unfortunately, there has not been a corresponding increase in the maturity level of industry engagement between the public and private sector. The current landscape for regulatory reporting is riddled with complexity – made evident by waves of
The end is in sight. In under six months, the deadline for MiFID II implementation will have passed. Since its legislative inception, JWG has iterated the importance of forward planning and anticipating the major changes under MiFID II. In concrete terms, our MiFID Implementation Group (MIG) meetings have provided the platform for senior managers from
In Megan Butler’s speech on creating a more effective approach to combatting financial crime, she posed the question “can technology help make your compliance processes slicker, more efficient and more effective?”. For combatting anti-money laundering and developing an effective KYC framework, the answer is a resounding yes. Firms that operate on a global basis will
In our previous article we announced some of the key findings from our recent buy-side focused MiFID survey. Now we are pleased to announce a webinar on 12 July to review and analyse the results in more depth with a panel of experts. The webinar will aim to present new survey findings to help inform
90% of buy-side firms believe they are at either high or medium risk of not being compliant by the January 2018 deadline, despite this date having already been delayed by a year. Significantly, with just over six months to go, a large amount of the industry appears to be overstretched and under-prepared. It is imperative
The topic of research under MiFID II has been a popular discussion lately amongst top firms at JWG’s MIG meetings. MiFID II demands that firms be transparent to investors about how they plan to pay for research and the value which they place on it, which has led managers to think about how much they
One of the many weaknesses that the financial crisis exposed was the feeble transparency framework in financial markets. In response, MiFID II and MiFIR built on the regulatory agenda of the G20 by aiming to strengthen the transparency framework of markets in financial instruments, including OTC trading. Building on MiFID I, the second incarnation extends
Not long now – in less than 6 months’ time – both MiFID II and PRIIPs will become effective across EU Member States. ESMA recently published a Q&A on MiFID II and MiFIR investor protection topics in which 14 new questions were added. These include new Q&As on costs and charges in relation to the
16 May 2017 signalled the end of the European Commission’s public consultation period on the operations of the European Supervisory Authorities. The purpose of the outreach was to gather market evidence on the progress of the ESAs towards their objectives for short, medium and long-term stability and the effectiveness of the financial system. JWG brought
Before the climb, you must have a vision of what success will feel like. You may not know the precise route, but a general direction, who you need beside you and a sense of the milestones along the way are key to getting in the right frame of mind. After 8 years of compliance efforts,
In exactly one year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply across the European Union, yet firms are struggling to prepare for new data security obligations due to the sheer quantity of regulations due to be enforced in 2018. With the current date of MiFID II being 3 January 2018 and PSD2 due 10
After the financial crisis in 2008, there was an effort to put in place regulation to support the markets and prevent such a crisis in the future by, in the words of Mark Carney, moving the global financial system “from fragility to resilience”. In his recap of what a difference a decade makes, however, we
What image is conjured up when you hear the term “cybercriminal”? A Guy Fawkes mask partially concealed underneath a black hoodie to the accompaniment of sinister music? Whilst this image provides an excellent trope for Saturday night TV, it does not reflect the reality of cybercrime. At our second RegTech Capital Markets Conference, we held
JWG are pleased to announce the launch of an independent benchmark survey {link} investigating the approach asset managers are taking to transform their operating models to be MiFID II compliant. MiFID II will be the biggest regulatory change since the 2008 financial crisis. It is a complex and interconnected beast that will affect your business
The terms FinTech and RegTech are both used increasingly frequently in the financial services industry. However, they are not by any means used consistently, or indeed necessarily separately. What they most definitely describe is the increasing use of technology in the provision of financial services and the solving of regulatory problems, but beyond that it
The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is the European Commission’s (EC) plan to mobilise capital in Europe through growth, reduce the EU economy’s reliance on banks for loans and create jobs, including youth employment. Heavy reliance on the banking sector for funding needs remains, which is why one of the main actions in the CMU plan
7 March 2017 marked the first anniversary of the implementation of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR). The rules set out by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority seek to instil a culture of conduct and responsibility across the UK banking sector by focusing on individual accountability and placing explicit standards on
On 3 April 2017, ClauseMatch and JWG were pleased to announce the development of a unique solution to simplify and better structure how regulatory changes are driven through internal banking policies. The prototype, linking internal banking policies with constantly changing regulations, was created by senior developers from JWG and ClauseMatch during the autumnal session of
IMeta, a leading global provider of client data management software and services, today announced it has selected JWG’s RegDelta platform, the leading regulatory change management platform, to provide a full regulatory rule set for the iMeta Client Lifecycle Management platform. JWG’s RegDelta platform allows thousands of pages of detailed operational obligations to be organised, interpreted
Blockchain is not something new to the financial sector. In fact, it’s been around for years. It will be, however, a slow process to integrate it into systems already in place and, as with any disruptive technology, for regulators to assess and mitigate its risks by regulating appropriately. Although the technology isn’t novel, regulators now
The UK’s departure from the European Union will be a seismic event for the financial sector, requiring extensive planning and transitioning from all corners of the industry. To implement all of the necessary changes in time, many assumptions will need to be made. In order to make this more efficient and lower the substantial costs
As the public cloud services market continues to mature and grow – up from $178bn in 2015 to $209bn in 2016, according to research company Gartner[1] – the concentration of computing resources into cloud data centres is increasingly attracting the attention of NPEs as a target for patent litigation. At a time when data security
As we’ve covered frequently on this site, incumbents are spending billions complying with the thousands of new, granular obligations demanded by FS regulators. So why, after eight years of regulatory reform, is the industry still struggling to fund companies that can revolutionise the way we establish policies and ensure compliance? In 2016 we told UK
Over 40 senior professionals at JWG’s RegTech Capital Markets Conference unanimously stated that we are missing a governing body to assume responsibility for regulatory implementation. It was a powerful discussion which agreed that a key piece of the jigsaw is missing; a strategic dialogue to focus practical regulatory reform implementation. There is a need to:
On 28 February 2017, I was pleased to chair our second RegTech Capital Markets Conference in London. As many have been asking how it measured up to our expectations, here’s a recap and an overview of what we think comes next. With a very senior audience of over 260 attendees from top-tier banks, buy-side firms
The regulators that oversee the economy are drowning in oceans of data, but need better standards to make sense of it all. The struggle stemming from the lack of standardised data was clearly visible in 2012 when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) needed to trace the so-called ‘London whale’, a trader who accumulated Credit
JWG’s RegTech Capital Markets Conference has made it into Business Insider’s list of the world’s best RegTech conferences to attend in 2017. The 300-person event in Central London on 28 February will bring together the world’s largest financial institutions, public bodies and systems-providers. Business Insider research finds that RegTech’s biggest advantages don’t just lie “automating
In fewer than 230 days – 7.5 working months from now, the biggest regulatory change since the 2008 financial crisis is set to come into force. The legislation, Markets in Financial Instruments Directive/Regulation (MiFID II/R), is one of Europe’s most ambitious and far-reaching financial reforms and is estimated to cost the financial industry billions to
Looking at the FinTech and RegTech conversations in 2017 we find that there is considerable confusion about some basic terms, definitions and relationships amongst policy makers, academics and practitioners alike. The now much more popular term is being used to describe many things. When you say RegTech, do you mean it to be a subset
The common image of a cybercriminal is that of a slovenly, yet highly-skilled, individual sitting alone in a basement having not seen daylight in weeks. The modern cybercriminal, however, is far removed from this. Cybercriminals are organised in large networks, often well-funded and highly talented which allows them to unleash devastating attacks. According to online
On 31 January 2017, ESMA published a consultation paper seeking feedback by the end of Q1 on its draft guidelines regarding the transfer of data between trade repositories (TRs) and it is expected to publish the final report on these guidelines by the end of Q2/beginning of Q3 of 2017. The three main reasons for
Improving the culture and codes of conduct within financial services firms has been a longstanding issue of contention since the financial crisis. Combatting negative behaviours and inefficient controls has proven difficult to regulate and tackle head on. In 2013, the FSB officially acknowledged business conduct as a new category of business risk and now, in
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is currently a hot topic for financial services, and with good reason, as banks are looking for efficient solutions to costly and cumbersome regulatory burdens and this is exactly what DLT promises to deliver. One of the key areas where there is clear application for this is in meeting Know Your
One of the costliest and most troublesome activities that financial institutions face is complying with regulations. With information technology having already revolutionised consumer financial products, business models, applications, processes and services otherwise known as “FinTech,” it is less well known that information technology could also be used to help financial institutions meet the growing regulatory
On 3 February 2017, President Trump announced in a press briefing that “we expect to be cutting a lot of Dodd-Frank” because “so many people, friends of mine, with nice businesses” had been stifled by regulations and therefore faced difficulties acquiring loans. Later that day, Trump signed Executive Order 13772, which established the agenda for
The sheer number of overlapping regulatory reporting regimes makes compliance difficult. MiFID II, which comes into effect in January 2018, significantly expands the scope of transaction reporting. EMIR, which is a reporting regime for derivative transactions under the EU regulation on OTC derivatives, CCPs and trade repositories, came into effect on 10 April 2014. Reporting
The rise of [insert-abbreviation-here]Tech companies signifies a pragmatic shift of business consciousness toward solutions that make use of advances in modern technology. In the banking sector, the magnitude and complexity of firms has immobilised the possibility for innovation. FinTech solutions attempt to combat this issue by producing new and intuitive services for banks and the
Since the financial crisis, we have been gifted over two Eiffel Towers high worth of complex and costly financial regulation, ever increasing in quantity and intricacy. Boards struggle to formulate their strategies to deal with regulatory-driven change to their operating models. There are answers, and now is the time to flush them out – before
The current buzzwords circulating around the media, “digital revolution”, succinctly capture what is occurring in the futures markets. With automated trading now constituting up to 70% of trades in regulated futures markets in the US, a modern-day Gordon Gekko would be using a cutting-edge code to create an automated trading system rather than relying on
JWG are proud to announce that registrations for our second RegTech Conference on 28 February 2017 have topped 300 from over 50 firms, regulators, standards bodies and leading technology companies. After five years and hundreds of articles from our analysts on www.regtechfs.com and 47 special interest group meetings on regulatory implementation in 2016 alone, we
On 21 January 2017, the European Commission (EC) published a delegated regulation and an implementing regulation in the Official Journal amending the RTS and ITS on the minimum details of the data to be reported to trade repositories under EMIR. One of the key changes made by the EC includes defining how to identify and classify
On 19 January 2017, MEPs rejected the European Commission’s blacklist of countries at risk of money laundering and terrorist financing as being ‘too limited’. The rejection suggests that the list should be broader, by including countries that facilitate tax crime, for example. The list from the Commission contained the names of 11 countries, including Afghanistan,
Following on from last month’s Q&A on commodity derivatives within MiFID II/MiFIR, on 17 January ESMA published its guidelines for the disclosure of inside information on commodity derivatives and spot markets under the Market Abuse Regulation framework. This publication is a response in accordance with Article 7(5) of MAR, that expresses ESMA to be the
Big data and financial regulation share two striking resemblances: both are overwhelming and largely impenetrable to the uninitiated. Although combining the two is pursued with noble intentions by regulators, the result is a concoction of stress, confusion and frustration for most firms. This combination, however, is of paramount importance for firms’ and clients’ concerns about
On 17 January, ESMA published advice received from the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG) in relation to the consultation on MiFID II product governance. This CP was released on 5 October 2016 and it set out to create guidelines relating to the target market assessment. The SMSG established a working group with the specific
Never mind a busy December, all in all, it was a busy year for financial regulation as shown in one of our previous articles, as 384 regulatory documents were captured and uploaded in our trade and transaction RegDelta library. MiFID II Before Christmas, we saw ESMA publish many documents much like in January 2016 with
On 11 January 2017, ESMA released its follow-up to the peer review on best execution which came out in February 2015. With significant improvement by many NCAs since the 2015 review, the follow-up reads as a far more positive report, with optimism for further development in the future. Although certainly not perfect, it reveals that
Transparency is the cornerstone of MiFID II. Whether it’s pricing, product or process transparency, participants will need to pull back the curtains to make more information public regarding the nature of their operations, products and services. Consequently, investment firms will need to know more about their clients than ever before, with very little margin for
The European Commission proposed on 21 December 2016 to strengthen Europe’s criminal law framework to combat money laundering by drawing on international standards to establish minimum rules for defining criminal offences, imposing sanctions in relation to money laundering and improving cross-border cooperation between Member States. In the press release, Commissioner Avramopoulos stated that this proposal
In April 2016, European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) submitted a draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation, focusing on the requirements of key information documents (KID). Despite the KID RTS being endorsed by the EU Commission, the European Parliament – in a surprising move – rejected the draft. It
On 19 December 2016, ESMA published its Q&A paper on the topic of commodity derivatives within MiFID II and MiFIR. The document focuses on the promotion of supervisory approaches and practices for the application of position limits, position reporting and ancillary activity provisions. It also provides clarity on the technicalities of the policy and the
Just before the Christmas break, as part of its quick-fire release of numerous important updates, ESMA published a new Questions and Answers document that covers MiFIR data reporting. Broken down into two separate sections, the document looks specifically at (i) LEI of the issuer and (ii) date and time of the request of admission and
On 23 November 2016, the European Commission published its proposal for a comprehensive reform package aimed at continuing risk reduction and to further strengthen resilience across the European banking system. Included within these proposals are amendments to the current capital requirements (CRR/CRD) and resolution framework (BRRD/SRM). The Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and Directive (CRD IV,
On 16 December 2016, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published their fourth and final consultation paper (CP) on implementing MiFID II regulations into domestic regulation by 3 July 2017, which will be applied to firms from 3 January 2018. MiFID II aims to bolster competition in the EU’s financial market by creating a single market
2016 has added tens of thousands of new regulatory pages to the pile, which has kept us, at JWG, very busy boys and girls. Unlike the last decade, however this year has been about unexpected twists and turns in the road: It’s been a year of MiFID II/R panic, implementation delays, regulators waking up to
Transaction reporting can be a difficult regulatory requirement to get right and compliance can be even more complicated due to multiple overlapping transaction reporting regimes, which all serve slightly different purposes and have varying structures. This article looks at the transaction reporting requirements under four key regulations: MiFID II, EMIR, REMIT and SFTR. The first
In our preceding article about ISINs, we explored the pursuit of a universal OTC identifier, and discussed what has occurred in Europe to fix this gap in the financial industry. The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) created the ANNA Derivatives Service Bureau, which is based on an automated ISIN allocation engine and is scheduled
The FCA have released a video of the November TechSprint event on their RegTech webpage, which can be found here. The video, which features commentary from Christopher Woolard, Joanna Hill and Nick Cook from the FCA, rounds-up what was an exciting and informative experience for us at JWG, where we were given the opportunity to
Tom Groenfeldt of Forbes has been speaking to PJ Di Giammarino, CEO of JWG, about the FCA’s recent TechSprint event and how technology can be leveraged to automate compliance. The event, which took place on the 9 and 10 of November, is part of the FCA’s broader mission, Project Innovate. This initiative has been designed to foster innovation
In the previous two articles, we delved into the guidance notes on systematic internalisers and research. The third guidance note produced by JWG centres on inducements. This particular guidance note helps explain the MiFID II obligations of inducements, for example, it speaks of the necessary quality enhancement test and defines acceptable minor non-monetary benefits, just
In order to comply with the latest regulations, firms must manage their transaction reporting obligations. A unified transaction reporting regime across the European Union (EU) was first introduced when MiFID I came into force in 2007 with the objective of detecting and investigating potential market abuses. With MiFID II implementation set for January 2018, transaction
At JWG, through tracking key regulatory bodies including ESMA, FCA, FINRA and CFTC, we have picked up key documents for different legislative initiatives such as Dodd-Frank, EMIR, MiFID I, MiFID II and the Commodity Exchange Act. We have sourced over 1000 documents in relation to trade and transaction reporting. In the past month alone, we
Following on from part 1 of this article, where we highlighted the benefits of the MiFID II Implementation Group (MIG) and how it has helped members better understand and develop solutions to key MiFID II/R issues, with a particular focus on those surrounding systematic internalisers, we take a similar approach in this article and examine
OTC derivatives, unlike other financial instruments, have never really had a product identifier. Since as early as 2014, regulators’ high expectations for a detailed product identifier for OTC derivatives have caused consternation amongst industry experts as retooling the current infrastructure to the new specifications is an enormous task that could result in hundreds of billions
After an action-packed two days of innovative ideas, collaborative spirit and technical expertise, JWG, are pleased to report that our participation at the FCA’s TechSprint event was an exciting, informative and rewarding experience. Held on 9 and 10 November, the event focused on the issue of ‘Unlocking Regulatory Reporting’ using RegTech solutions. We were specifically
With the MiFID II/R implementation deadline less than 420 days away, financial institutions are trying to find the smartest ways to comply with this new regulation. JWG can make this process much easier through the collaborative effort of our MiFID II Implementation Group (MIG). About MIG The MIG is a JWG-facilitated weekly meeting of industry
With the FCA’s commitment to innovation and to becoming a global leader in the development and adoption of RegTech solutions, JWG is excited to announce that we have been invited to participate in their upcoming TechSprint event. Held across two days, on the 9 and 10 November, the event, which focuses on the topic of
Last month, JWG were pleased to participate in the Trusted Open Data Environments 2016 conference in Poznan, Poland, which was attended by data specialists from a variety of regulatory agencies, academics, practitioners and FinTech entrepreneurs. It was a full day of hot topics, including international standardisation, Initial Coin Offerings and data reporting. So, what did
In December 2015, ESMA published a consultation paper on transaction reporting, order record keeping and clock synchronisation. Shortly after, we summarised the 10 key issues from the MiFID II guidelines for transaction reporting. Now, having considered the issues raised in the responses to the consultation paper, ESMA has published its guidelines. Considering the key topics
The Securities Financing Transitions Regulation (SFTR) has been introduced in the light of the G20’s agenda to address concerns of the build-up of leverage and pro-cyclicality which can be caused by securities transactions. Article 29(3) of SFTR specifically asks ESMA along with European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) to help ESMA
The plight or health of community banks has become a key weapon in the war between supporters and critics of Dodd-Frank and even financial regulation in general. The unmistakable decline in the number of community banks is used by many as an example of why the 12,000+ page legislation is flawed, as it supposedly hurts
As time ticks on in the implementation delay for MiFID II, regulators and firms are moving closer towards mutual understanding and delivery. There are still many creases to be ironed out in the run up to January 2018, especially with regards to transaction reporting, which is a major pain point for many firms. This article
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its third consultation paper (CP3) with regards to the implementation of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) on 29 September 2016. MiFID II, which comes into effect on 3 January 2018, is aimed at making markets more efficient, transparent and responsible. Strengthening consumer protection is one
There is no hiding that securities financing transactions, thanks to their role in the financial crisis of 2007-2008, do not have a good reputation. The Financial Stability Board’s policy framework seeks to address SFTs’ complex and opaque nature through increased transparency of these products to allow clients a more accurate assessment of where to invest
The Federal Reserve Board published a final enhanced supervision rule, known as Regulation YY, on 18 February, 2014. This regulation implements certain provisions of Section 165 and 166 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to establish enhanced prudential standards for large US bank holding companies (BHC) and foreign banking organisations (FBO).
On Wednesday 14 September, the EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee heard evidence from Mr. Simon Gleeson, Partner at Clifford Chance, and Mr. Peter Snowdon, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, for its Brexit Inquiry into financial services. Over the course of an hour, the discussion focused on how UK firms might hope to invoke rights of ‘equivalence’
So far 2016 has been one of the most contentious years since the G20 agreed the regulatory reform agenda seven years ago. With ever-rising costs, increasingly more severe penalties, and continued issues with data quality, it would be easy to claim the plans conceived in the wake of the crisis are not going to get
The Payment Services Directive (PSD) was adopted in 2007 as a means for providing a legal foundation for establishing safer and easier electronic payment services throughout the European Union. The goal was to make cross-border payments quick, efficient and secure. In July 2013, the Commission decided to review PSD and modernise it to adapt to
On the 14 September 2016 there was a staggering majority vote against the EU Commission’s Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for the PRIIPS key information document (KID), at 602 to 4, with 12 abstentions. The rejection by the Parliament of the implementation rules proposed by the Commission is unprecedented in the financial markets, and now it
Fitch Ratings, one of the largest three credit rating agencies, released a report on 11 September 2016 on how the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) increase in capital requirements under Basel III is likely to put nearly half of Indian banks in danger of breaching capital triggers. They emphasised that government owned banks are the
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has become infamous for its unintentionally damaging effect on the average American expat, as many foreign financial institutions (FFIs) attempt to mitigate their paperwork and risk by denying custom to American citizens according to expat groups with mainly anecdotal evidence. Groups protecting US expats are proposing tweaks to
On 18 August 2016, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published two final guidance papers for authorities and firms as part of the agenda to end the “too big to fail” risk. Some progress is being made, and the FSB has said that “banks have begun to develop issuance strategies to meet new total loss-absorbing capacity
The phase-in for central counterparty clearing (CCP) for certain Over-the-Counter (OTC) derivative contracts began in 21 June 2016 for certain contracts, with many more soon to follow, until all in-scope contracts are subject to the obligations by 9 August 2019. The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) requires certain classes of OTC derivative contracts to be
Benchmarks and indices are vital tools for assessing the underlying price of financial instruments and contracts as well as for measuring the performance of investment funds. Despite this, recent LIBOR and EURIBOR scandals have exposed how vulnerable to manipulation these instruments are. In the light of these events, the European Commission produced a benchmark regulation, which
Several large Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan, have requested five more years to comply with the Volcker rule, in order to sell their holdings which will become more difficult to sell as the summer deadline moves closer. If their request is accepted, it will give them until 2022 to
On 5 August 2016, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released a discussion paper on the ‘Strengthening of the Regulatory framework for Algorithmic Trading and Co-location’. This is yet another step in the global movement towards increased control on algorithmic trading. In the paper, SEBI proposes several suggestions for comment by all stakeholders
The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), a banking lobby, has warned regulators that new rules must be closely examined to assess their impact on the global financial markets. This comes as a result of the proposed changes to capital requirements that the Basel Committee is currently implementing. These changes to capital requirements could have a
In part 1 of this article, we examined three of the six key areas of overlap between the regulations on PRIIPs and MiFID II/R. In particular, we provided detail on, and discussed the degree of similarities between, the scope, the disclosure requirements for financial instruments and the obligations to identify a ‘target market’ between both
On 18 July 2016, ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, published its advice to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on extending the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) passport to 12 non-EU countries: Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, the Isle of Man, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the
The 2016 edition of the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report lists “failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation” as the greatest risk facing the world over the next 10 years. That was the collective judgment of 742 surveyed experts and decision makers drawn from business, academia, civil society and the public sector. Last year’s