FinBrief

eSignature and ePayment News and Trends - July 2020

Posted by Margo H. K. Tank on 3 July 2020

A fact of business today is that customers – both consumers and other businesses – and employees expect to transact digitally. To remain competitive, companies find themselves increasing their efforts to digitally transform their businesses.

Successfully implementing this transformation requires careful planning to ensure regulatory compliance, a smooth integration with existing business technology and a positive customer experience. In this issue we provide updates on recent regulatory and court decisions affecting the bank partnership model. In addition, this edition includes reports on other recently enacted federal and state laws, federal and state regulatory activities, fresh judicial precedent and other important news.

Latest Climate Financial Risk Forum guide released

Posted by Steven Gray on 2 July 2020

On 29 June 2020, the Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF) published their guide to climate-related financial risk management.

Climate-related risks will impact the financial position of entities and will have a significant impact on the financial services sector. Climate change will prevent assets from delivering services, impact the value of assets, the cost and availability of insurance and the creditworthiness of borrowers.

New law on capital markets and organised commodities markets adopted: Part 1

Posted by Oleksandr Kurdydyk, Dmytro Pshenychniuk and Viktoriia Luganska on 1 July 2020

On 19 June 2020, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted law (draft law No. 2284) aimed at creating a new design of financial markets in Ukraine and introducing sweeping new changes to regulation of financial instruments (the Law). The Law has also paved the way for a wide range of new financial instruments such as derivatives, green bonds, loan notes, and other structured finance products. In terms of harmonisation efforts, this Law is based on the key provisions and standards of the EU regulation (MiFID II, MiFIR, and EMIR).

FCA publishes findings from cryptoasset consumer research

Posted by Zoë Jensen on 1 July 2020

On 30 June 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a research note on cryptoassets consumer behaviour. The note is based on the results of quantitative research, commissioned by the FCA, to ensure its understanding of consumer behaviour and the areas of potential harm is accurate. It builds on the results of the FCA’s qualitative research, published in March 2019, and forms part of the wider project of work being undertaken by the UK Cryptoasset Taskforce.

EBA thematic report on the impact of COVID-19 on the EU banking sector

Posted by Michael McKee, Chris Whittaker and Marina Troullinou on 24 June 2020

On 25 May 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a Thematic Note setting out its preliminary analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the EU banking sector (Thematic Note). The EBA’s assessment is mainly based on supervisory reporting data (particularly Q4 2019 data) submitted by a sample of EU banks, excluding UK banks.

ESMA Guidelines on Compliance Function under MiFID II

Posted by Michael McKee, Chris Whittaker and Erna Soljanin on 23 June 2020

On 5 June 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published new guidelines for the Compliance Function under the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II), replacing the previous ESMA guidelines on the same topic issued in 2012.

Further amendments to the Hungarian Bankruptcy Act

Posted by Péter Györfi-Tóth, Mark Seres and Levente Biro on 18 June 2020

The Hungarian government submitted a bill to the Parliament on 12 June 2020 that introduces certain amendments to Act XLIX of 1991 on Bankruptcy and Liquidation Proceedings (Bankruptcy Act) with the effect of 1 August 2020.

ESMA Publishes 2019 Annual Report and Updates 2020 Annual Work Programme

Posted by Michael McKee, Neil Millar and Erna Soljanin on 18 June 2020

On 15 June 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its 2019 Annual Report, which included a revised version of its 2020 Annual Work Programme and a review of its key actions from 2019.