FinBrief is DLA Piper's global hub for updates and discussion on the legal issues important to finance and markets and their regulation. Subscribe to updates here.
Subscribe to FinBrief
Subscribed
You have successfully subscribed to the FinBrief mailer.
Irish Fitness and Probity Update: Proposed amendments to the List of Pre-approval Controlled Functions
Posted by Aongus McCarthy and Eimear O'Brien on 23 September 2021Section 22 of the Central Bank Reform Act 2010 enables the Central Bank of Ireland to prescribe by regulation certain pre-approval controlled functions as part of its fitness and probity regime. On 22 September, 2021, the Central Bank issued a notice of intention to amend the list of PCFs applicable to all Irish Regulated Financial Service Providers, other than credit unions, in light of its recent supervisory experience of the use of a number of current PCF roles and in view of the changing structure of, and landscape surrounding, the Irish financial services industry.
New Levy Methodology for Payment Institutions and E-Money Institutions, and the Relevance of AML/CFT Considerations
Posted by Eimear O'Brien, Clodagh Butler and Bella Chan on 22 September 2021The Central Bank of Ireland has a statutory power to impose levies on regulated financial services providers. The purpose of the levy is to fund the relevant proportion of the cost of regulating RFSPs. The method of calculating a RFSP’s annual levy varies depending on the industry funding category within which the RFSP falls.
FCA Plan to Tackle Retail Investor Harm
Posted by Michael McKee and Chris Whittaker on 17 September 2021On 15 September 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority published a new strategy which is designed to ensure UK consumers can invest with confidence by understanding the risks they are taking and what the regulatory protections apply.
Recent updates to the Central Bank of Ireland UCITS and AIFMD Q&A
Posted by Aongus McCarthy on 16 September 2021On 10 September 2021, the Central Bank issued the 33rd edition of the Central Bank UCITS Q&A, and the 41st Edition of the AIFMD Q&A (Revised Q&A).
We summarise the key changes.
UK anti-frustration of contracts tough legacy draft law
Posted by Mark Daley on 10 September 2021On Wednesday 8th September, the Critical Benchmarks (References and Administrators' Liability) Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords. This is the proposed legislation we have been waiting for in the UK for many months ever since the ARRC mooted it for the US, and in particular since 16th February, when the FCA issued a consultation on the idea and it is the cousin of New York legislation and US federal legislation aimed at the same problem; and as readers know, the EU is considering something similar too.
Speech by the FCA Chair on the Risks of Online Cryptoasset Promotions
Posted by Martin Bartlam, Michael McKee and Chris Whittaker on 8 September 2021On 6 September 2021 the Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority and Payment Systems Regulator, Charles Randell, gave a speech to the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime about the risks of token regulation.
Here we summarise the key takeaways and points for consideration.
Not all credit sensitive rates are the same
Posted by Mark Daley on 27 August 2021The minutes of July’s Sterling working group on RFRs cautioned any regulated UK market participants looking to use credit sensitive rates in UK-based business “to consider the risks carefully”.
Climate reporting: Dispute risks rise up the agenda
Posted by Bryony Widdup, Chris Harvey and Daniel D'Ambrosio on 23 August 2021Our financial services (FS) institutional clients have been leading the way with alignment of climate reporting to the internationally recognised Task Force on Climate-related Finance Disclosures (TCFD) standards, reorganising their governance structures to ensure strong oversight on climate risk and adapting their businesses accordingly.
and then 