RegTech IntelligenceThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is developing a single-view-of-firm dashboard and other early warning systems to identify and potentially shut down problem firms more quickly, said Nikhil Rathi, chief executive. Upskilling in technology, operations and data science would permit the regulator to design systems to detect misconduct, fight fraud and react more quickly to rapidly
UK financial services regulators have asked bank chief executives to sign up to and largely pay for work to improve regulatory data collection. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last week wrote to bank chief executives explaining their plans for transforming data collection, which regulators expect will deliver integrated reporting,
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will look at potential risks in neo-brokers’ business models after MEPs raised concerns about payment for order flow (PFOF), short selling and market abuse. Tuesday’s ECON session at the European Parliament was dedicated to discussing the GameStop market event and its impact on EU markets. Steven Maijoor, ESMA’s
The latest episode of RegCast is available now! RegCast 2 covers the UK’s fast moving political and regulatory review process, the key questions they are addressing, and what they are likely to mean for regulators, regulated and their customers. The group discusses past choices and explores the implications of digitizing the future regulatory framework including
As we summarized in our latest Beacon, JWG’s surveillance community has covered quite a patchwork of regulatory obligations over the past 2. In all that time, nothing has pulled all into focus like GameStop. JWG has been digging beyond the broadsheet news to examine what roars from Reddit chat groups will mean to wholesale and
RegTech Beacon – Guiding your way through global regulatory storms. 2021 is off to a fast start with regulators redoubling their efforts to police a more digitally enabled market. In this Members newsletter we provide an overview of what JWG has been up to and what lies ahead. Topics covered: New themes for RegCast. We summarize our research on emerging global digital regulatory themes and
It has been a very busy 2021 and it is a very noisy financial services regulatory marketplace. JWG is pleased to be helping to contextualise the strategic issues in play with a new podcast series called RegCast which you can access here. So what is RegCast? RegCast is an industry spotlight on the business
Many UK firms are far from fully compliant with the Market Abuse Regulation ( MAR) applied in July 2016, requiring the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to continue its supervisory visits to check firms’ progress. More than four years into the regime, FCA supervisors still find basic flaws in firms’ systems and controls, including poorly calibrated
The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) extensive proposed guidance to the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) could force the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to make some early decisions to diverge from the regime. “One of the questions is what does the FCA really think about the MAR review? This is where the rubber begins
By PJ Di Giammarino and Sam Tyfield, Partner, Shoosmiths. The MAR review report was finally released on 23 September and clocked in at 276 pages. It raises a number of key issues for senior management at financial institutions, already struggling to form a holistic view of their communications surveillance obligations under COVID. The extensive review
By Sam Tyfield, Partner, Shoosmiths. On 12 October, a speech by Julia Hoggett, FCA’s Director of Market Oversight, was published here. She speaks of having “rattled [her] sabre” about market abuse and surveillance. She started with some good news; activity the FCA regards as abusive, manipulative or insider dealing has not changed, so far as
The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has commissioned 11 skilled persons reviews under Section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 into firms’ regulatory reporting in the last two quarters. The PRA commissioned nine prudential s166 reviews of deposit takers in the fourth quarter 2019/20 (December through February), according to publicly available information.
FS Compliance officers have been hit with an unprecedented deluge of 3,021 COVID-19 alerts 2 months into the pandemic, which JWG forecasts to be a total of 15,695 documents by year end. Regulators expect firms to be able to navigate these difficult circumstances while delivering fair outcomes for customers and complying with existing rules. That’s one of the clear messages in these 3,000 plus regulatory updates. Better RegTech tooling is
Firms’ 2020 compliance workplans and risk management strategies have been rendered redundant as the regulatory response to COVID-19 has usurped everyone’s agenda. Regtech companies tracking COVID-19-related regulatory publications say more than 1,300 announcements have been made internationally as regulators roll out pandemic-specific guidelines and relax some rules to help financial institutions manage their businesses. “If
Author: Rachel Wolcott, Thomson Reuters The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) derivatives trade reports and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II transaction reports regulators collect is unlikely to be yielding the market insights required to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) 2019/20 annual report and work programme shows EMIR reports’
By PJ Di Giammarino Over the past few years, financial services firms have been investigating how to improve trade-related surveillance capabilities and techniques. Expectations from regulators and senior management have been placed under the microscope, mainly due to high surveillance noise levels across all communication channels and asset classes. In tracking this evolution of technologies
JWG RegTech 2.0 conference – Regulators, regulated and leading technologists to explore winning strategies for top 2020-2021 issues London, 6 December 2019 – JWG is pleased to announce that its 5th annual RegTech Conference will be held on 7 February 2020 at the Gouman Tower Hotel in the City of London. At a crucial point of inflection post financial crisis the Financial Services sector faces 374 new legal challenges. New JWG research has revealed low levels of awareness to key shifts in the regulator’s RegTech framework. Specifically: Enabling market ecosystems. New global RegTech/ SupTech policy initiatives Infrastructure risk. FSB, FRB, BoE focus on cloud
JWG are pleased to announce new research in partnership with MarkLogic, which shows that financial institutions are ill-equipped to deal with the data demands of new regulation. During Q4 2018, JWG conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives from 12 global financial institutions to develop the insight published in a subsequent paper titled ‘
Both MAR and MiFID II ushered in many new requirements that have forced firms to completely re-assess their approach to trade surveillance. One significant consequence is that firms are having to spend more time and resources on quality assurance controls that ensure trade surveillance systems are both appropriate and effective. MAR, for example, includes a
We are now 10 years on from the crisis which began the seemingly never-ending stack of regulation that we continue to plough through. As with any infrastructure project the post-crisis regulatory framework requires renewal and repair. Regulators are revisiting reporting regimes and data standards, and are looking at the emergence of new technology, whilst at
One of the key conclusions reached at our Capital Markets conference on 7 March was that regulatory divergence as a potential consequence of Brexit is currently one of the main worries for financial firms. When polled, 53% of our audience indicated that Brexit will be their next significant regulatory challenge. This anxiety derives mainly from
In our previous article Trade Surveillance: restructuring the business landscape[1] we identified how holistic regulatory requirements are forcing banks to re-consider the makeup of their operational structures. Our follow-up research has revealed the severity of the situation and how the industry is reacting too slowly. Trade surveillance, if not executed correctly, can result in financial
Both MiFID II and MAR have completely changed the regulatory landscape in terms of voice communication surveillance. Both pieces of regulation place a greater emphasis on firms to monitor the surveillance controls that they implement, and also introduce new holistic trade surveillance requirements that, in turn, have driven the development of new, innovative, RegTech solutions.
2017 was a year of profound upheaval for firms and regulators. As we move in 2018 we publish our latest RegBeacon, we are looking ahead and reviewing the trends shaping the global financial landscape in 2018 and beyond. Our message to the industry is that, even though we have seen off numerous deadlines and challenges
In July 2017 we drew on RegDelta’s database of regulatory documents to estimate that MiFID and MiFID II accounted for 1.4m paragraphs of rules, guidance and policy. That figure drew gasps from the industry press but we were clear it was inevitably going to rise further. We have now calculated that just under 300,000 paragraphs have been added in the second half of 2017 – a slight pickup in pace since
As we head into the final MiFID II implementation straight we publish our latest RegBeacon, but our message to the industry is that the ‘end’ is far from sight. We are becoming firm believers that there will be more work done to deliver this set of changes after the due date, than in the run
With MiFID II’s implementation date of 3 January 2018 fast approaching, investment firms need to prepare for the changes that will be brought about by the EU’s flagship regulatory policy. All-encompassing in its scope, MiFID II will implement regulatory changes that will impact the trading of all financial instruments. In an attempt to fulfil the
With only 3 months left before the implementation of MiFID II, on 28 August 2017 the European Commission published a delegated regulation which added to the definition of a systematic internaliser. Under MiFID I, the SI regime was limited to equities transactions but, under MiFID II, it has an increased scope. A systematic internaliser is an
New rules on algorithmic trading, such as those quickly approaching from MiFID II, are cause for preparation across the industry, with various regulations in this sphere also impacting the buy-side. So, in this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways that regulation is currently, or will soon be, impacting algorithmic
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
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
Over the past quarter, we have made considerable progress towards the creation of a RegTech Council. In this members-only issue we cover our latest activity in the RegTech arena including: The progress of our new RegTech SIGs – The restructured membership groups are broadening and improving our coverage MIG update – With 6 months to go, firms are moving from
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 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
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 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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
We are pleased to publish the latest copy of our newsletter, RegBeacon. In this edition we look back on a quarter that saw us take major steps forward with our regulatory change management platform, RegDelta, host more than 10 industry working groups and agree to host another crucial conference on RegTech. As politicians, courts, regulators
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
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
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
On 18 July 2016, the FCA produced a consultation paper (CP16/18) outlining suggestions on how to prepare the rulebook for the introduction of PRIIPS. PRIIPS, which is designed to increase transparency of costs, risk and intended market, will take effect on 31 December 2016. It requires each manufacturer and distributor of insurance-based investment products (IIP) or packaged
We are pleased to publish the latest copy of our newsletter, RegBeacon. In this edition we look back on a quarter that saw us host a successful conference on RegTech and we consider where this leaves the industry and what the next steps need to be. This quarter, despite the most serious political event the
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
With 23 June just around the corner and a vote deciding the future of the UK in the EU on the horizon, we at JWG have issued a ground-breaking report today – Brexit: changing out the engine of finance. The report finds significant technical and leadership challenges ahead in the event of a decision to
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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