On March 21, 2024, HM Treasury published a paper on the next phase of its Smarter Financial Services Regulatory Framework, the U.K.'s program of post-Brexit regulatory reforms for financial services. The original policy...more
The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a Review of the PRA ring-fencing rules for U.K. banks. The ring-fencing regime came into force in 2019 and the PRA is required to review the rules it has made under the...more
Regulated financial services institutions and financial market infrastructure (FMI) providers often rely on third parties who provide significant services to them behind the scenes, including “cloud” services and IT services...more
HM Treasury has published the Central Counterparties Special Resolution Regime Code of Practice, setting out guidance on the operation of the expanded resolution regime for CCPs established under the Financial Services and...more
The U.K. Government has signed the Berne Financial Services Agreement with Switzerland, confirming mutual recognition of aspects of the financial services regulatory and supervisory regimes in each jurisdiction. The Agreement...more
The Bank of England has published a Policy Statement on the Implementation of the Basel 3.1 standards in the U.K., taking account of responses to its Consultation Paper 16/22 published in November 2022. The Basel 3.1 changes...more
A U.K. statutory instrument has been published specifying that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission regime for central counterparties is equivalent to the U.K. regime (which is set out under the U.K. European Market...more
HM Treasury has published a consultation response and draft statutory instrument on reforms to the high net worth and sophisticated investor exemptions under the financial promotions regime. The Financial Services and Markets...more
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on cryptoasset regulation, setting out its final proposals for the U.K.'s cryptoasset regulatory regime. The U.K. plans to make cryptoassets a new category of...more
11/10/2023
/ Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
MiFID II ,
Payment Systems ,
UK
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on managing the failure of systemic digital settlement asset firms. DSAs are defined broadly under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 as digital assets that...more
HM Treasury has published a Policy Paper on Plans for the Regulation of Fiat-backed Stablecoins, setting out the next steps for the implementation of stablecoin regulation in the U.K. Fiat-backed stablecoins are (under HM...more
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on payments regulation and the systemic perimeter. The consultation was prompted by the U.K. government's Payments Landscape Review and HM Treasury's concern that some...more
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is consulting on its proposed rules for securitization markets, which will replace many of the firm-facing requirements under the existing U.K. Securitization Regulation. The U.K....more
HM Treasury has published a response to its consultation on the future of U.K. retail disclosures. HM Treasury's consultation (which we discussed in our client note, "UK Government Publishes Edinburgh Reforms for Financial...more
HM Treasury has published a consultation on the establishment of a financial market infrastructure sandbox, known as the Digital Securities Sandbox. The sandbox will be established using new powers granted by the...more
HM Treasury has published a Call for Input on the U.K. Future of Payments Review, an investigation into how future payments are likely to be made and how the U.K. can offer world-leading retail payments. The review is focused...more
HM Treasury has published a near-final draft statutory instrument and related Policy Note setting out its proposed reforms to the U.K. securitization regime. Comments on the draft S.I. can be submitted until August 21, 2023....more
HM Treasury has published its response to the Short Selling Regulation Review, which sought views on the proposed U.K. short selling regime. Once the new U.K. regime for short selling is finalized, the retained EU Short...more
HM Treasury has published a near-final draft statutory instrument and related Policy Note setting out its proposed reforms to the U.K. prospectus regime. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has also published a series of six...more
The U.K.’s newest Financial Services and Markets Act of 2023 (“FSM Act”) received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023. Certain parts came into force on its passing, others will come into effect two months after that, and the...more
8/1/2023
/ Competition ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services and Markets Act ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HM Treasury ,
Prospectus ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Securitization ,
Solvency II ,
UK
On 7 June 2023, the U.K. government published a statutory instrument (the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) (Amendment) Order 2023 (FP (Amendment) Order) and related explanatory memorandum)...more
6/13/2023
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
New Legislation ,
Securities ,
UK
The U.K. government has published its much-anticipated proposals for regulating the cryptoasset industry. These proposals, currently in the form of a consultation, will see many (but not all) cryptoasset-related activities...more
A detailed set of amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) were tabled by Lord Lilley on 23 January 2023, promoting enhanced accountability for the U.K.’s financial regulators.[1] These comprise the result...more
Innovate Finance and Shearman & Sterling has submitted a comprehensive evidence paper to the House of Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into crypto-assets.
Analysis produced by Innovate Finance specially for the...more
10/6/2022
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
UK
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a consultation paper on proposed guidance on the regulatory perimeter for multilateral trading facilities and on possible future changes to smaller trading venues' regulatory...more