Welcome to the Regulation Round Up, a regular bulletin
highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial
services regulation.
Key developments in October 2024:
31 October
ESG: The Transition Plan Taskforce
(”TPT”) published its final report (Progress
Achieved and the Path Ahead: The Final Report of the Transition
Plan Taskforce) and officially concluded its work.
PRA Rulebook: The Prudential Regulatory
Authority (”PRA”) published a policy statement (PS17/24) to
its occasional consultation paper (CP6/24), setting out its final
policy on the changes to the PRA Rulebook.
FSMA 2023: The draft Financial Services and
Markets Act 2023
(”FSMA2023”)
(Addition of Relevant Enactments) Regulations 2024 were published, together with an explanatory memorandum. The
draft legislation empowers HM Treasury to make regulations to
establish financial markets infrastructure sandboxes.
Artificial Intelligence: The Bank of England
published a speech by Sarah Breeden, Bank
of England Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, on AI and
financial stability.
30 October
ESG: The European Supervisory Authorities
(”ESAs”) published a final report (JC 2024 68) on
principal adverse impact disclosures under the Sustainable Finance
Disclosure Regulation ((EU) 2019/2088)
(”SFDR”).
Private Markets: The Financial Conduct
Authority(”FCA”) published a speech, given by Nikhil Rathi,
FCA Chief Executive, on the growth of private markets.
Reserved Investor Funds: As part of the Autumn 2024 Budget, HM Treasury
confirmed it is proceeding with the introduction of reserved
investor funds.
29 October
ELTIF Regulation: Commission Delegated
Regulation 2024/2759, containing regulatory technical standards
supplementing the Regulation on European Long-Term Investment Funds
((EU) 2015/760)
(”ELTIFRegulation”),
was published in the Official
Journal of the European Union.
ESG: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial
Disclosures (”TNFD”) published a
discussion paper setting out
draft guidance on nature transition planning for companies and
financial institutions. Please refer to our dedicated article on
this topic here.
MiFID II: ESMA published a consultation paper
(ESMA35-335435667-5979) on draft technical advice to the European
Commission on amendments to the research provisions in the MiFID II
Delegated Directive in the context of the Listing Act under the
MiFID II Directive (2014/65/EU) (”MiFID
II”).
28 October
FSMA2023: The Financial
Services and Markets Act 2023 (Commencement No 8) Regulations 2024
(SI 2024/1071) were made and published. The regulations
revoke certain pieces of retained EU law and bring into force
amendments to retained EU law made by the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2023.
25 October
Non-Financial Misconduct: The FCA published a
webpage presenting the results
of a survey it had sent to 1,028 wholesale banks, brokers and
insurance firms examining how firms detect and handle non-financial
misconduct incidents. It has also published the survey questions.
Motor Finance:The Court of Appeal ruled on a
set of cases addressing undisclosed or partially disclosed
commission payments in motor finance agreements, setting new
standards for disclosure. Please refer to our dedicated article on
this topic here.
24 October
Consumer Duty: The FCA published a speech, given by Graeme
Reynolds, FCA Director of Competition, on addressing the issue of
vulnerable customers in the wealth management sector.
MiFIR / MiFID II: The Association for Financial
Markets in Europe published an implementation guide for firms
operating in wholesale secondary markets, providing an overview of
the reforms to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation
(600/2014) (”MiFIR”) and MiFID
II in the EU and the UK.
22 October
Tokenisation:The Financial Stability Board
published areporton the financial stability
implications of tokenisation.
Benchmarks:TheCritical Benchmarks Regulations
2024 (SI 2024/1051) werepublished,together with anexplanatory memorandum.
17 October
Economic Growth: The PRA and FCA published
speeches (here and here) on economic growth, given
at the Annual City Banquet, Mansion House.
16 October
Collective Investment Schemes: A draft version
of the Collective Investment Schemes (Temporary Recognition) and
Central Counterparties (Transitional Provision) (Amendment)
Regulations 2024 was published, together with a draft explanatory
memorandum.
UK / Switzerland Collaboration: HM Treasury
published a joint statement issued by it
and the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance on the
first UK-Switzerland financial dialogue.
MiFID II / MiFIR: ESMA published an updated version of
its manual (ESMA74-2134169708-6870) on post-trade transparency
under MiFID II and MiFIR.
MiCA: ESMA published an opinion
(ESMA35-1872330276-195) on the European Commission’s amendments
to draft regulatory technical standards on authorisations and
notifications under MiCA.
15 October
Regulatory Initiatives: The Financial Services
Regulatory Initiatives Forumpublished an interim version of
the Regulatory Initiatives Grid, covering initiatives affecting
firms from October 2024 to March 2025.
14 October
ESG: ESMA published an updated
sustainable finance implementation timeline.
Financial Advice Sector: The FCA published a speech given by Nick Hulme, FCA
Head of Department (Advisers, Wealth and Pensions), on the
FCA’s new supervisory strategy for the financial advice
sector.
TISFD: The Taskforce on Inequality and
Social-related Financial Disclosures
(“TISFD“) launched on 23 September 2024,
with the aim of developing guidance for businesses and financial
institutions to report on inequality and social-related financial
risks, opportunities, impacts and dependencies. Please refer to our
dedicated article on this topic here.
Ring-Fencing Reform: The House of Commons
published a written statement by Tulip
Siddiq, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury, on the status of reforms
to the bank ring-fencing regime.
11 October
Sanctions: ESMA published its first annual
consolidated report (ESMA43-1527801302-1333) on sanctions and
measures imposed by national competent authorities in member states
in 2023.
LTAFs: The Productive Finance Working Group
published a revised model long-term asset fund
(“LTAF“) instrument of incorporation and
a model authorised contractual scheme co-ownership deed (here and here).
10 October
Cryptoassets: The European Commission adopted a
Delegated Regulation
(C(2024)6766) containing regulatory technical standards on
information to be exchanged between competent authorities under
MiCA.
ESG: The FCA updated its webpage on the Climate Financial Risk Forum to
announce the publication of guides for the financial industry on
nature-related risks, short-term scenarios and adaptation
finance.
Financial Advice Sector: The FCA published a
”Dear CEO Letter” setting out expectations for
financial advisers and investment intermediaries. Please refer to
our dedicated article on this topic here.
Artificial Intelligence: The Investment
Association published a report produced by the
technology working group to HM Treasury’s asset management
taskforce that considers the current and future usage of AI in
investment management.
9 October
Consumer Duty: The FCA published its findings
on a webpage following a multi-firm
review of 23 payments firms to determine how those firms have
implemented the Consumer Duty.
8 October
ESG: The European Parliament published a corrigendum to the proposed
Regulation on the transparency and integrity of ESG rating
activities (2023/0177 (COD)).
EU Listing Regime: The Council of the EU
formally adopted at first reading the
Listing Act package, a legislative package adopted by the European
Commission on 7 December 2022 to make public capital markets more
attractive to EU companies and to facilitate access to capital for
SMEs.
Market Volatility: The FCA published a speechgiven by Nikhil Rathi, FCA
Chief Executive, on market volatility.
7 October
ESG: ESMA published its first annual
report(ESMA50-43599798-10379) on EU carbon markets.
UK PRIIPS Regulation / Retail Disclosures: A
draft version of the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment
Products (Retail Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 was published, together with an explanatory memorandum.
Financial Advice Sector: The FCA published a portfolio letter
setting out its supervisory strategy for financial advisers and
investment intermediaries.
4 October
ESG: The European Commission issued FAQs on the
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Please refer to
our dedicated article on this topic here.
FCA Handbook: the FCA published Handbook Notice 122, which sets
out changes to the FCA Handbook made by the FCA board on 18
September and 3 October 2024.
3 October
MiFIR: ESMA published a consultation paper relating to
amendments to the requirements on transaction data reporting and
order book recordkeeping that were introduced to MiFIR by MiFIR II
((EU) 2024/791).
ESG: The European Commission issued warnings to
EU Member States who failed to implement the Corporate
Sustainability Reporting Directive. Please refer to our dedicated
article on this topic here.
2 October
Financial Policy Committee: The Bank of England
published the financial policy summary and
record of the meeting of its Financial Policy Committee on 19
September 2024.
1 October
ESMA Annual Work Programme: ESMA published its annual work
programme for 2025.
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