Key regulatory themes for 2016

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


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


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


JWG analysis. It’s only Tuesday and already this week we’ve had some big headlines in the financial services world.  On the other side of the Atlantic, Banamex USA was fined by federal and state banking regulators for failure to implement adequate safeguards against money laundering transactions.  Perhaps even more significant news is the recent conviction


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


Recent developments give firms some reasons to celebrate but be prepared for a long engagement With lots of different regulatory benchmark efforts now underway, the industry could be forgiven for not taking a common stance. With IOSCO set to issue final principles in July, ESMA and the EBA are simultaneously consulting on a European set


The new legislative package contains some surprises for those engaged in ‘risky’ trading MiFID II is almost upon us.  This month, the Council of the EU agreed their general approach, meaning that the draft of MiFID II/MiFIR is free to advance to the European Parliament.  If all goes according to the current plan, the new