Key developments of interest over the last month include: the European Parliament’s ECON Committee adopting draft reports on the European Commission’s PSR and PSD3 legislative proposals; ESMA consulting on 'reverse...more
The Bank of England has published a joint consultation paper with HM Treasury on the possibility of a digital pound in the U.K. It is envisaged that the digital pound would be a retail central bank digital currency, to be...more
Following the recently introduced Solvency UK for insurers, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt (the UK finance minister) has announced the Edinburgh Reforms, a further series of reforms aimed at the UK financial...more
The Bank of England and HM Treasury have announced the next steps in the development of a U.K. Central Bank Digital Currency. These include the following...more
SMCR extension: SI extending implementation date made - The Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/929) have been made....more
Blockchain technology continues to mature and gain acceptance for a wide range of potentially disruptive financial and commercial uses. In the wake of COVID-19, we have seen an increased focus on the research and development...more
Bank for International Settlements selects Bank of England as the UK centre to host new FinTech hub. On 30 June 2020, the Bank of England announced that it had been selected to host a centre of the Bank for International...more
The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have published a joint report entitled, "Cross-Border Interbank Payments and Settlements." Referring to current industry projects to address...more
What has happened? The Bank of England (BoE) has confirmed that its revamped real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system will be compatible with interface systems that run on blockchain-based technology....more
The House of Commons Treasury Committee has launched an inquiry into digital currencies and distributed ledger technology in the U.K. The inquiry will consider the risks and opportunities of digital currencies for consumers,...more
In its 2015 Productivity Plan, the government committed to working with UK regulators to publish Innovation Plans setting out how legislation and enforcement frameworks could adapt to emerging technologies and disruptive...more
The CFTC’s reportedly investigating the interest rate swap activities of Citigroup and others. Swaps allow companies to “hedge against a rise or fall in interest rates on the debt that they issue or hold, with banks usually...more