RegTech IntelligenceIn 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
With the industry facing a 60,000 regulatory document mountain, JWG is finding new ways to deploy technology and crowd sourcing to help. In this members-only issue we cover our RegTech outlook and initiatives including: Launch of JWG’s new RegTech SIGs – The restructured membership groups are broadening and improving our coverage MIG update – With
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 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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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 17 June 2016, the Council of the European Union approved a one-year delay to the MiFID II transposition and implementation dates. Under the new regulation, the deadline for Member States to transpose MiFID II into national legislation is 3 July 2017 and the date of application for MiFID II/R is now set for 3
With the upcoming presidential election on 8 November 2016 and Trump’s growing popularity in the polls over the past few months, it is becoming increasingly important for regulators, banks and other financial institutions to gain a greater understanding of his economic agenda. Well before he launched his current campaign, Trump attacked increased regulation following the
By January 2018, European legislation will have significantly changed the financial services sector. The sheer volume of transactions, products and firms affected by new regulation means that we can say goodbye to the trading landscape we currently know. In particular, new rules under MiFID II will impact how and where market participants execute trades. All
The revised European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) looms over the regulatory horizon like an oncoming storm in the financial services industry. Aiming to improve the safety and transparency of financial markets, MiFID II reaches far beyond investment banks, impacting asset managers, commodity firms and OTC brokers and dealers too. In terms of
At JWG’s RegTech conference, now less than a month away, our second panel* will bring experts together to discuss the matter of aligning reporting obligations using RegTech to ease the regulatory burden. Panellists confirmed so far include Adedayo Banwo (Legal Counsel at Deutsche Bank, London Branch, former Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at
This month, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts released its forty-first report of session 2015-16 which looks at ‘financial services mis-selling: regulation and redress’. The Committee is tasked with ensuring value for money of public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services.
In a week which has seen cyber-risk cement itself on the agendas of regulators across the world, we’ve witnessed action in the trading space with plenty of developments occurring in Europe’s markets in financial instruments’ overhaul, as well as a concerted effort to rethink the way in which regulations and regulators work in the financial services industry.
On Monday the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published opinions on the Regulatory Technical Standards for position limits (RTS 21) and non-equity transparency (RTS 20) under MiFID II, in response to the Commission’s request to ESMA in April to modify the draft RTS issued in September 2015. This article will detail the updates on
Date: April 2016 Dear fellow board members, As the Financial Conduct Authority’s acting head has so rightly pointed out, sustainability is the key to pleasing our shareholders and delighting our customers with a global approach to compliance. Since taking the seat which oversees our global compliance function in 2008, I’ve watched in horror as G20
We are pleased to publish the 14th edition of our members only newsletter, RegBeacon. RegBeacon, is now available here. In this quarter we look one of the most contentious periods since the G20 agreed the regulatory reform agenda seven years ago. As politicians, courts, regulators, and firms wrestle with the same issues, we see a
We were pleased to speak at the Asset Control User Conference on Tuesday about the challenges of using RegTech in the context of comprehensive MiFID II data requirements. JWG’s CEO, PJ Di Giammarino, presented a helicopter view of the regulatory landscape ahead of us, an approach to getting the cost of the data under control.
On 24 March, as part of the UK’s effort to set rules to transpose the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) set out its proposals in its first consultation paper. The application deadline for MiFID II/R has been delayed by one-year to 3 January 2018, with just the European
Earlier today, the European Commission published part of the long awaited Delegated Acts for MiFID II. This was an unexpected move by as not many were expecting to see them in separate parts. This first set of Delegated Acts for MiFID II has been based on advice from ESMA and covers three topics; safeguarding of
JWG’s recent series on the emerging regulatory barriers and issues in FinTech, does an excellent job of setting forth the main issues for what is sure to be a busy few years of calibration for regulatory compliance and reporting. The emergence of RegTech, roughly the ways in which the adoption of new technologies can help
In the post-Easter week, regulators were busy shining a spotlight on remuneration practices in the industry. We saw the EBA releasing a report looking at the high earners in EU banks and ESMA focusing on sound remuneration policies under the UCITS Directive and AIFMD. The FSB also met in Tokyo to discuss their priorities for
A brief exchange of correspondence between regulators over the last fortnight has brought aspects of MiFID II’s regulatory technical standards back into question. On 14 March, a letter from the European Commission to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), seen by Reuters, requested that the technical standards on position limits be rewritten, with the
On 24 February, the National Audit Office of the UK published the findings of a report carried out by the Comptroller and the Auditor General which looked at financial services mis-selling. The definition of mis-selling is currently “a failure to deliver fair outcomes for customers” and this includes providing customers with misleading information or recommending
The new regime for transaction reporting, being introduced under MiFID II, represents a significant overhaul and expansion of what is currently required by MiFID I. On 9 March, as part of their two-year programme on MiFID II, City & Financial Global held a highly topical event on transaction reporting under MiFID II. The last City
In our two previous articles, we mentioned that, despite the technology existing to enable ‘good regulatory practice’, the market has failed to overcome the four main barriers. Why? In short, while we have a strong chorus of support from the side-lines, the regulators are only just now beginning to take on the job of making
The “MiFID II/MiFIR & EMIR Reporting” conference last week in London was well attended by hardened reporting stalwarts, well used to moving technical mountains in order to deliver the billions of trade and transaction reports submitted by the industry every week. Normally, not much phases this crowd, but one regulatory revelation managed just that. During
Continuing on from part 1, where we discussed the European regulator’s priorities for Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) and Trade Repositories (TRs) for 2016, we now look at the nature and focus of the work the regulator plans to carry out this year to promote supervisory convergence. In October 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority
This week, the EU commission published the responses to their call for information on the impact of EU regulation so far. The FCA’s response, also published this week, has been similar to other feedback in citing the constraints on both the banks and the real economy of financing themselves, overly complex reporting obligations and spill-over
With the MiFID II delay finally official, implementation teams received the good news that they had been waiting for patiently for months. But now is not the time to rest on their laurels. Completing all of the work required to change technology systems, policies and procedures in line with MiFID II was considered an impossibility
After months of rumour and speculation, The European Commission has today finally spoken out on the delay of MiFID II. The Commission has announced a 1-year extension to the implementation, making the new deadline 3 January 2018. In justifying their decision, The Commission cites “the complex technical infrastructure that needs to be set up for
Following the announcement of a landmark deal on international cooperation over tax avoidance last week, Tuesday saw the signing of a transatlantic pact on data transfer. Even when the EU are in the process of stocktaking the cumulative effects of regulation so far, there is clearly no break in the ongoing pace of financial markets
On 22 December 2015, ESMA published 10 guidelines on cross-selling practices under MiFID II. However, as noted in our previous article, these guidelines were not released as initially intended by the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – EBA, EIOPA and ESMA. Alongside the guidelines, ESMA put out a press release stating that “in light of
After a long week at Davos, there are a number of interesting conclusions from this year’s World Economic Forum. China appears to have come out less of a worry than it was when it went in, with the IMF’s Christine Lagarde stating that the country is going through a transitional stage towards sustainable growth, and
In the past month, we’ve celebrated the holiday season and brought in the new year, but there has been no rest for the wicked and regulators have been busy scrambling to meet deadlines and push out new regulatory documents. In the period before Christmas, we witnessed a lot of developments and it’s safe to say
JWG were pleased to participate in a MiFID II webinar led by DerivSource this week. As you can see, by clicking on our presentation below, MiFID II is rekindling industry debate about the right approach to sharing billions of transaction reports across Europe. MiFID II/ MiFIR turns up the operational and technical heat, not just
Over the last week, regulators have been signalling that they will not be tolerating risky or illegal finance in 2016 any more than in the previous year. Margin requirements are back on the table, along with bankers’ remuneration and fines – plenty of fines. Despite this, the inquiry into the UK FCA’s scrapped banking review
The new year has not brought any better luck for China’s economy. As stocks continue to slump, the People’s Bank has again devalued the Yuan to somewhat limited results. Meanwhile the debate over how best to control Wall Street is getting no less fiery. Bernie Sanders has made clear his intentions to ringfence investment banks
On 22 December 2015, ESMA published a final report outlining guidelines on cross-selling practices under MiFID II. This follows the publication of a consultation paper in December 2014 by the European Supervisory Authorities which requested feedback from stakeholders and this final report represents such feedback. While the guidelines were initially intended to be produced by a
2015 has been an important year in financial services regulation, it has witnessed regulators and the industry alike struggling to deal with drafting, interpreting and implementing a vast array of new requirements across trading, financial crime, risk and structural regulations. The year has been just as busy for us and our RegTech platform as it
2015 has been a year of genuine progress for the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) project. It is fair to say that it would not have been particularly difficult this time last year to find sceptics about whether such a statement could be made at this point. ESMA have been a key driver behind this progress.
With the new year on the horizon, and mounting pressure from our clients, JWG are gearing up for another MiFID II implementation training course. Given all the current talk about a potential delay, it would be easy to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. However, that would be a big mistake. There is
Yesterday, ESMA published a note – originally from 2 October – regarding the potential for a delay to MiFID II. The note is categorical in its support of a delay to the MiFID II framework, and it will only further fuel the flames of those screaming for more time. Below are some key highlights from
Julia Schieffer, the founder and editor of DerivSource.com, recently interviewed PJ Di Giammarino, CEO of JWG Group, on some of the key stumbling blocks of MiFID II requirements. Extracts from the interview detailing issues on reference data, the transparency principle and how financial institutions are implementing changes can be seen below. The full transcript and
JWG analysis. Fees and costs currently present themselves as the top controversial issues within the investment industry. The key challenges on this topic, bearing MiFID II in mind, were discussed by Aisha Dudhia (JWG Group), Steven Charlton (Vanguard Asset Management) and Bart Heenk (Avida International) at Professional Investor’s latest roundtable. This article offers answers to
The MiFID framework is venturing into unchartered territory as European legislators aim to place new restrictions on commodity markets. This element of MiFID II has been one of the most contentious parts of a highly controversial process. In light of the recent publication of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) by ESMA, we look at five
PRESS RELEASE: Think-tank deploys RegDelta to help train MiFID II workforce JWG, the financial services regulation think-tank, are offering a ground-breaking new face-to-face training course on 3 November 2015 in London. Ground-breaking, because it is supported by the complete library of MiFID II documentation now loaded in RegDelta. The clock is ticking for the thousands
JWG analysis. As financial regulations keep piling up in the post-crisis world, it becomes increasingly difficult to recognise the similarities and differences between them. The interdependencies on the Know Your Customer (KYC) front are present, but somewhat tangled. Here we provide an overview of the current and upcoming client classification requirements under prominent regulations, and
JWG analysis. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there have been multiple bones of contention and areas of tussle between the regulators and members of the financial industry. One example is the issue of remuneration, because of its reputation as a key driver for instilling particular behaviours within the financial industry. Used correctly, it can
With the MiFID II technical standards finally being published, the time is right to give our successful MiFID II implementation training its latest run on 3 November in London. We suspect that, soon, regulators will be asking tough questions about how you plan to be ready for system integration testing in a mere nine months
JWG analysis. According to an article by Rachel Wolcott of Thomson Reuters, the FCA have now elucidated that they will operate a zero-tolerance policy with firms not giving their all on the approaching MiFID II deadline. Hopes have been dashed that the sheer size and complexity of the regulation would either push back the deadline
JWG analysis. Reporting systems are already buckling under the weight and complexity of new compliance demands, and yet more requirements are on the way. Trade and transaction reporting regimes are set to expand significantly in 2017 when the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) come
JWG analysis. Over the course of the year, JWG’s Customer Data Management Group (CDMG) has covered in-depth customer due diligence and KYC requirements under global tax, reporting and anti-money laundering regulation, and market monitoring under MAR/MAD2. For the ninth CDMG meeting, JWG took a different direction and covered fund management regulation and the regulatory interdependencies
Today, ESMA has published the long-awaited MiFID II Technical Standards, leaving implementation teams across the industry with hundreds of pages to get to grips with. The publication confirms that MiFID II will represent the biggest change to the regulatory framework in living memory. It represents an extremely complex puzzle, but at least now we have
By Sam Tyfield and JWG. Following on from our previous article, the devil is in the definitions, where we unravelled the definitions for High Frequency Trading (HFT) and Direct Electronic Access (DEA) provided within the MiFID II texts, now we explain how these definitions will apply in practice. What is HFT? Well, that’s a question
JWG analysis. One of the key themes of MiFID II has been to enhance regulation in order to better protect investors within the financial services industry, and regulators continue to propose more and more stringent regulations for financial institutions. Following on from part 1, this article explores five more significant characteristics of best execution under
JWG analysis. Whilst the most eye-catching changes to the MiFID regime tend to have fallen within the market infrastructure bucket, there have also been many small amendments to the investor protection area (consequently representing a significant regulatory reform). Overall, the EU has proposed additional layers of regulation to protect investors, in the hope that this
JWG analysis. The minutes of the latest MiFID II implementation roundtable, on 17 July, were published in August. At the meeting, the FCA spoke with a number of industry trade bodies, including the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA), to
JWG analysis. At the 8th Customer Data Management Group (CDMG) meeting of 2015, on 18 August, over 20 members from 10 firms came together to discuss the new Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the potential challenges it holds. With less than 11 months until particular sections of MAR will apply to the financial services industry,
JWG analysis. Since the financial crisis, there has been an increased focus on tackling market abuse. As of March this year, the FCA had 49 cases market abuse cases open and, in 2014, 60+ market abuse cases were on their books. In terms of criminal convictions, three were secured for insider dealing and nine confiscation
JWG analysis. With many of the regulations that have come into force since the 2008 financial crash, the rules may appear simple enough, but the devil is very much in the detail. MiFID II is no exception. With MiFID II looking to enhance transparency within the industry, firms that currently provide RFQ services must consider
JWG analysis. With Australia and Canada having already adopted new rules to oversee trading within dark pools, it is now Europe’s turn to shed some light on this activity. Considering that only about 9% of European equities were traded within dark pools in 2014 (in comparison to about 40% in the US), it may seem
JWG analysis. With MiFID II looking set to radically change the financial trading environment as we know it, following on from part 1, in this article we explore 5 more key changes we are anticipating by 2017. 6. Increasing competition In line with the policy focus on competition, the European Commission (EC) proposed rules
JWG analysis. The removal of a number of financial practices has altered the regulatory environment in recent decades. With new landmark legislations coming in to play soon, regulators across Europe look set to bring down the curtain on another. Under the existing practice of bundled commissions, asset managers charge clients to manage their funds but
JWG analysis. By January 2017, European financial services legislation will have significantly changed the financial services sector. The sheer volume of transactions, products and firms affected by the new regulation means that we can say goodbye to the trading landscape we currently know. In part 1 of this article, we discuss five of the
JWG analysis. In an article earlier this week, we highlighted some of the key challenges for firms engaged in HFT activities under MiFID II. In this piece, we will focus in more detail on one particular area of change under MiFID II, namely algorithmic trading and the implications of regulators rewriting the dictionary for it.
JWG analysis. In part 1, we focused on the consultation paper published by the FCA on 7 July, CP 15/22, in which the UK’s financial regulator proposed that managers responsible for algorithmic trading should also be covered under the new Senior Managers and Certification Regime. But, as many readers will know, it is not only
JWG analysis. On 7 July, market experts at the City & Financial Global workshop on transaction reporting under MiFID II addressed an audience, setting out their main concerns regarding the new transaction reporting regime. In this article, we present some of the key issues that they highlighted. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have
By Sam Tyfield and JWG. It has been widely rumoured that the level 2 MiFID II will define the high frequency algorithmic trading technique (HFATT) as one which has a high message intraday rate in which there is a minimum of four messages being sent per second for all instruments traded on a trading venue.
JWG analysis. Mark Carney recently declared the ‘age of irresponsibility’ within the fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) markets to be over. Just over a year ago, the UK Government introduced the Fair and Effective Markets Review (FEMR) in response to the FX and LIBOR scandals. The large scale misconduct and collusion had damaged public
JWG analysis. At CISI’s Annual Conference, Verena Ross presented the latest outlook on EU regulation, covering the Capital Markets Union (CMU), ongoing work in relation to investor protection and the digitalisation of financial services. Ross once more emphasised how a successful CMU, based on a single capital market in the EU, promotes the attractiveness of
JWG analysis. Today ESMA published a Q&A, aiming to clarify the status of investment-based crowdfunding platforms which are outside the scope of MiFID and, therefore, not automatically subject to rules designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing under AMLD III. Investment-based crowdfunding platforms can have a different regulatory status. Some are within the scope
By Sam Tyfield and JWG. While the latest chapter of the Greece tragedy plays out, today ESMA quietly released its final report on draft technical standards on the authorisations, passporting, registration of third country firms and cooperation between EU competent authorities. Compared to the Consultation Report published in December 2014, ESMA has clarified a number
JWG analysis. Some of the areas in which firms are the keenest for greater clarity are transaction reporting, understanding where information on which instruments are traded on venues will come from and the overlap between MiFID and RDR. It was agreed that TAs would speak to their members and come back to the FCA with
JWG analysis. As we pointed out in our third piece on regulatory reporting, and at an Infoline conference for the buy-side this week in London, the overarching question is how will firms’ derivative activity be judged to be ‘good enough’ in 2017? There is no single answer, and we won’t really know until the results