RegTech Intelligence
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…
Last week was an embarrassing week around the globe for a number of high profile politicians, sports personalities, multinationals, law firms, the rich and the famous. The leak of the Panama papers - a data leak of almost 11.5 million documents, concerning the tax affairs of many - brings into sharp focus an agenda that…
On 1 April 2016, the European Commission’s Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/467 relating to Solvency II – the European risk-based capital regime – was published into the Official Journal of the EU. This covers the new risk charges imposed on insurers’ equity and debt investment in infrastructure projects. Based on advice from the European Insurance and…
JWG’s Customer Data Management Group (CDMG) March focus was the soon to be implemented (3 July 2016) Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). JWG have created a set of rule interpretations for MAR which have been incorporated into our regulatory platform, RegDelta. The March CDMG also included a rule interpretation segment, where participants ‘deep-dived’ a few of…
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…
The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) has come some way since its formal establishment in November 2011. 10 March marked a new date for going forward, when a report by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC) set out their policy design for the phase 1 collection of level 2 relationship data for the Global Legal…
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…
FinCEN’s proposed rules on beneficial ownership due diligence, the incoming 4th Money Laundering Directive (AMLD IV) and now the UK’s Register of People with Significant Control (PSC) Regulation all push for more transparency in beneficial ownership or significant control of companies. The aim is to reduce acts of money laundering and tax evasion and to…
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…
UK investment managers are becoming increasingly vocal in the Brexit debate, with the June referendum possibly marking a turning point for the industry. These are top players in the European fund management industry, yet their dominance is dependent on the ability to do business across the continent. In this sense, regulation matters ... a lot. …
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…
In our previous article, we argued that a number of next-generation technologies have the potential to dramatically disrupt the financial sector’s manual and outdated legacy infrastructure which is, as we write, fighting a losing battle with the ever-growing pile of regulatory rules. It’s curious. With thousands of actors spending billions on hundreds of technologies -…
The attacks in Paris and the continued threats posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have once again seen fresh emphasis placed by financial regulators around the world on countering terrorist financing and money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris based intergovernmental body that sets standards and promotes…
On 15 February, ESMA released a discussion paper with the purpose of consulting stakeholder opinions on the technical implementation of the incoming Benchmarks Regulation. This regulatory process was initiated on 18 September 2013 at an EU level when the Commission published a legislative proposal for a new regulation on benchmarks, which falls in line with…
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…
An EY report released this week in conjunction with the UK Treasury, declared the UK to be the highest ranking FinTech sector in the world with a market size of £6.6 billion. The authors predominantly attributed this to the UK’s accommodative regulatory regime for startups and the associated disruptive technologies they bring to market. We…
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…
Only hours before JWG’s Customer Data Management Group (CDMG) met on 23 February, an announcement was made that more than a third of firms that submitted their responsibilities under the Senior Managers Regime (SMR) had been rejected for technical reasons. The UK FCA/PRA SMR passed its first major milestone for grandfathering on 8 February and…
In answering the Government’s demand for the UK to become a leader in the RegTech field, the FCA issued a call for input in November. Given that JWG have been supporting the development of RegTech - via this publication and our other activities - for a decade now, we thought it would be helpful to…
Earlier this month, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released two key documents detailing its supervisory plans and priorities for 2016. Whilst these publications primarily identify areas of focus for the current year, they also highlight the shortfalls in terms of promoting sound, efficient and consistent supervision across the European Union. The first, published…
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…
The market abuse regulation (MAR) is fast approaching and will impact not just financial services firms, but also any EU listed company. Identified in a number of articles published here on RegTech, and discussed at JWG’s CDMG, (customer data management group), which focused on MAR/MAD changes in August last year, the regulation will involve a…
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…
On 28 January 2016, ESMA published a paper consulting on a number of draft guidelines falling under a fraction of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). This consultation paper was based on a previous discussion paper, issued by ESMA on 14 November 2013. In particular, the paper covers the mandates placed on ESMA to produce guidelines…
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…
The European Commission is in the final stages of launching its online dispute resolution (ODR) platform to the public. This has been an extended process which involved the publication of a designated regulation on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes back in 2013. As of 7 January 2016, the launch of the platform was heralded…
Over the last six months, market monitoring and market abuse have had their fair share of coverage. The industry witnessed the conviction of Tom Hayes, for LIBOR rigging, the introduction of permanent injunctions in cases of market abuse, acquittals of six defendants accused of conspiring to rig the LIBOR and now preparation for the new…
In November last year, at JWG’s monthly CDMG meeting, we discussed the incoming General Data Protection Regulation which - at that stage - remained a draft and the implications of the removal of the US safe harbour rule. The safe harbour rule was an agreement between the US and EU allowing businesses to transfer personal…
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…
In the last 48 hours, significant steps have been taken towards creating a more level playing field and higher levels of transparency for those who pay tax. This article provides you with commentary on some of the main aspects that have occurred. JWG’s Customer Data Management Group (CDMG) last year discussed the complexities that the…
In December of 2015, the European Parliament released a report “on stocktaking and challenges of EU financial services regulation” and, on Tuesday 19 January, the text was adopted by a majority vote of the Parliament in Strasbourg. So, what does it say? Compiled by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), the report assesses…
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…
FATF updates – renewing effort to tackle terrorism A special three-session meeting to discuss tackling terrorist financing was organised by the Financial Action Task Force in reaction to the atrocities that have taken place in the last few months. Whilst the agenda focused on broader ways to tackle terrorist financing, the Islamic State of Iraq…
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 UK, EU and the Financial Action Task force have promoted banks to adopt and implement a measured approach to de-risking clients that pose money laundering and financial crime risks. The central message has been for financial institutions to manage money laundering risks and to cease relationships with clients as a last resort. But, the…
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…
There will no doubt be many concerned faces amongst senior management this year as the new rules for the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMR) come into force over the next 12 months. The first implementation date will be in February 2016 when firms will have to submit documents for grandfathering, then commencement of the…
On 24 November 2015, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved a notice of proposed rulemaking addressing several issues related to automated trading. These proposed rules have been collectively termed ‘Regulation Automated Trading’ or ‘Regulation AT’. Regulation AT has been designed to reduce the likelihood of automated trading disruptions and potential risks and…
The FCA has just dropped their comprehensive review of UK banking culture, which focused on whether pay, promotions or incentives in the financial sector encourage malpractice. Shortly after its announcement last year, it has been shelved, with the FCA citing that each business is unique and thus cannot easily be compared. To some this is…
Add another category to the ever expanding list of risks posed to the financial sector with the new kid on the block: Climate Change. Climate risk has now expanded beyond sheer physical damage to companies and their assets to encompass the risks posed by investments in fossil fuels and their rapidly declining value. In response…
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…
With the number of participating states down to 10 (France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia) and the implementation date delayed to mid-2016, the 2011 EU proposal for a financial transaction tax is looking shaky. The most recent movements have stemmed from the 2013 proposal for an EU directive implementing enhanced cooperation…
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 2016 just around the corner, talk surrounding the EU referendum within the financial services industry is only continuing to heat up. After the general election of May 2015, the Conservative Party promised to deliver an in-out referendum on the future of the UK in the European Union before the end of 2017. No official…
With members of the European Parliament Negotiating Team stating, in a letter addressed to Commissioner Hill, that they are “open to considering a wholesale delay of the application of MiFID II – MiFIR”, a delay to the new European market rules is now looking more likely than ever. But there are concerns that this potential…
Getting your head round the main objectives of the current financial reform agenda is a task in itself, but when it comes down to the increasing data management requirements that follow hand in hand, it’s all about the nuts and bolts. Whose responsibility is it to manage this data, and keep it up to quality?…
AMLD IV has placed emphasis on a risk-based approach to counter financial crime and terrorist financing. Few would argue against this approach. It is not only logical, but also the most practical way forward. The approach appears to be fairly straightforward, consisting of identification, assessment and management risk. However, recent news, analysis and conversation with…
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…
The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities has published a consultation paper on 11 November 2015 which sets out the draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) concerning the Key Information Documents (KID) for PRIIPs. After much debate and the publication of a general discussion paper (November 2014) and a technical discussion paper (June 2015), the…
Financial regulation remains as complex as ever. Complex new niches such as shadow banking, Fintech, and Over-the-Counter Derivatives, and the increasing interconnectedness of Financial Institutions (FIs) across the world, have led to greater risks to be managed for regulators. With this in mind, how they manage to get ahead of these rapid financial evolutions and…
Welcome to our new and improved RegTech site. The site will continue to bring you JWG’s analysis spanning the breadth of global regulatory reform as well as insight from collaborators across the industry, and it will aim to do so more accessibly, allowing you, the reader, to filter at a much more granular level. This…
Fresh off the press from the FCA is a call for input on “Supporting the development and adoption of RegTech”. We would be inclined to see this as a ringing endorsement of our website, but it seems the FCA are thinking more about the bigger picture. The FCA are seeking broader views on how to…
JWG analysis. Q3 has been an incredibly busy quarter for global regulators. We could fill pages with acronyms describing the new requirements for financial institutions, but we will spare you that. Instead, RegBeacon will provide an overview of the latest developments in the regulatory landscape as well as updating you on what the JWG team…
The final text for the new regulation on the reporting and transparency of securities financing transactions has been finalised after the Parliament adopted the text of the regulation at its first reading on 29 October. The Council subsequently adopted the text on 16 November and now the industry needs to prepare itself for yet another…
Collaboration is hard, yet it's the core of meeting every new regulatory requirement. Last week, the Royal Bank of Scotland received the prestigious ‘best use of IT for the purposes of risk/regulatory management’ award because they got the way they manage trade and transaction reporting obligations right. Many leading technologists helped JWG’s RegDelta platform underpin…
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…
Last week, the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) published their report on the progress the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) has made since its proposal in 2011 as a solution to transparency, organisation and risk aggregation in the financial industry. The report is split into five sections: (1) Completion of the Global Legal Entity Identifier System (GLEIS)…
JWG analysis. On 9 November 2015, ESMA published its Q&A on the implementation of the current Market Abuse Directive (MAD). For those of you looking for some relief, this is a relatively short document, just 8 pages, and it consists of only two questions. Question one focuses on the disclosure of inside information related to…
JWG analysis. Tracey McDermott, acting Chief Executive of the FCA, called last week for a more sustainable regulatory framework that does not just reflect the atmosphere of the time. She was referring to what is being increasingly seen as the regulatory pendulum - the process of intense regulation following a financial crisis which then wears…
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. Over the last 10 months, JWG’s CDMG has covered - in depth - the incoming Anti-Money Laundering Directive IV (AMLD IV). AMLD IV focuses on the risk profiles of clients and monitoring or reporting them accordingly. On 21 October, ESMA published a Joint Consultation Paper on simplified and enhanced due diligence, detailing the…
JWG analysis. Following the financial crisis, regulators were concerned about the risks of shadow banking, including Money Market Funds (MMFs). The European Parliament is still discussing the regulation which the European Commission issued on 4 September 2013 and it’s likely that a revised draft will be released. This article answers 5 key questions about the…
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…
JWG analysis. The Regulatory Oversight Committee is branching out. On Wednesday, the ROC released a consultation paper on the possible issuance of LEIs to international branches of a head office legal entity. The idea is that this may reduce the likelihood of the double trade and transaction reporting that foreign branches are often subject to…
JWG analysis. The ousting of Martin Wheatley from the Financial Conduct Authority during the summer is a sign that the UK Government wants to take a stand on ‘bank bashing’, sending a global message that London is a bank friendly capital, and that there will be more emphasis on individual responsibility. During this year, there…
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…
With Stefan Ingves, Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, attending last week’s Institute of International Finance (IIF) Annual Membership Meeting in Lima, the Basel III topic made its way into the discussion. Looking ahead to the next twelve to eighteen months, Mr Ingves highlighted that the Committee’s policy agenda would be focused on…
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. The European Banking Authority (EBA) have been particularly busy this year, publishing over 30 key documents (5 consultations, 5 guidelines, 7 technical standards, 4 opinions and 11 reports and other notable publications) between June and August. Keeping up this pace, according to the EBA’s September newsletter, we can expect 25 deliverables covering 16…
JWG analysis. Euromoney’s article, earlier this year, stated that regulatory arbitrage in Africa is growing as banks begin to establish branches across their borders and exploit regulatory loopholes in the host country. This may result in a lack of accountability due to the frameworks not being in place for consolidated supervision, and is a stark…
JWG analysis. A new dawn began for the wholesale energy market on Wednesday, as the trade reporting obligations under the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) came into force. The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) issued this notice on Monday to inform market participants that the Agency’s REMIT information…
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…
JWG analysis. … at least, not much! This week is a significant one for compliance and legal professionals in the financial services industry. ESMA has finally released 1,500 pages of draft regulatory standards covering trading, market abuse and the settlement of securities. In the past few months, JWG has spent considerable time covering MiFID II,…
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…
By Helen Pykhova, Director, The OpRisk Company, and Meredith Gibson, Head of Legal Risk, Santander UK. Introduction The reader will agree that we live in the age of regulation. There is an enormous amount of change coming out of the new legislative and regulatory publications and the sheer number, scale and complexity of the initiatives…
JWG analysis. Following the introduction of the new ringfencing law, due to come into force 1 January 2019, the biggest UK banks strongly voiced their concerns. Although this new law will be difficult (and expensive!) for all banks involved to implement, firms with more global and diversified business models are facing additional complexities. In particular,…
JWG analysis. Continuing our Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) series, from when the universal identification of financial entities was a mere idea on the horizon to its steady increase in prominence and complexity, we now mark a new date in the KYC calendar with the arrival of the consultation paper for level 2 relationship data for…
JWG analysis. On 7 September, the EU published a statistic showing that, according to the EBA, the percentage of high income earners that have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile has increased from 53.68% to 59.00%. They stated, though, that this trend is likely to change in the future following the adoption of…
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. The Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) was introduced in 2011 to stem insider trading and market abuse in European wholesale energy markets, under the realisation that market abuse conducted anywhere within interlinked markets would have a significantly wide impact. With this new regulation - and its corresponding fines -…
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. Regulators have given a huge boost to the small and medium enterprise (SME) markets under EuVECA, which aims to support the harmonisation and growth of the EU’s venture capital funds. Venture capital funds are investment funds that specifically focus on pooling funding from other financial institutions (such as pension funds) in order to…
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. Last week we wrote about thwarting financial crime through suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in the UK, and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) concern over the integrity, accuracy and coverage of STRs. On the other side of the Atlantic, FinCEN is proposing to extend their anti-money laundering (AML) regime to investment advisers. Closing…
JWG analysis. Derivative contracts are not a financial innovation of recent decades, allegedly coming into use around 1700 BC in ancient Mesopotamia. On 16 August 2012, a new chapter in derivatives’ history was written when the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) entered into force, as part of a global initiative to reduce counterparty and operational…
JWG analysis. “This regulation has the possibility to create a strong ecosystem for social enterprises across the union” In December 2011, the European Commission issued a press release highlighting the problems that businesses face when seeking conventional sources of funding due to the confusion surrounding their mix of social goals and business techniques. Responses from…