Asset management

Recent Articles

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  10/04/2024

  FCA Consultation on Payment Optionality for Investment Research (CP24/7)

  On 10 April 2024, the FCA published a consultation on Payment Optionality for Investment Research (CP24/7). In the consultation, the FCA proposes a new option for asset managers when paying for investment research, in addition to existing options.  Under the current UK rules, which stem from the legacy EU MiFID II regime, there are two ways in which UK asset managers can currently pay for investment research: By agreeing a separate research charge with each of their clients, with the payment for research made from a Research Payment Account (the “RPA model”); and By paying...

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  13/07/2022

  Crypto and ESG - 11 things you need to know ...

  1. What is ESG? ESG stands for the broad term of “environmental, social and governance”. However, what this means in practice is different from one sector to another and from one jurisdiction to another. In the UK, climate change reporting obligations for a range of businesses have been the key focus area so far, using the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations as the main reference point. For financial services entities, the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used TCFD as a basis for its ESG Sourcebook, containing onerous and...

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  25/05/2022

  The ESAs have submitted further SFDR queries to the Commission

  II. Key takeaways The ESAs submitted nine questions, with the aim of helping the market preparing for the formal application of the Level 2 requirements. 1) Question on PAI The first question relates to the consideration of principal adverse impacts on sustainability factors (the so-called “PAI”) at product level, when the PAIs are not considered at the level of the investment fund managers. The answer of the European Commission on whether or not this is possible under SFDR would have an impact on the fund industry in Luxembourg. A large proportion of fund promoters indeed engage with...

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  25/05/2022

  Draft report on the Commission’s proposal to amend the AIFMD: key changes

  2. Key highlights (a) Inclusion of a new sub-category of “professional investors” The Report suggests that the term “professional investors” should no longer exclusively correspond to the definition given to such term in Annex II of the Directive 2014/65/EC (MiFID II) and should instead also capture two additional types of investors, namely those: i. who have committed to investing a minimum of EUR 100 000 and have stated in writing, in a separate document from the contract to be concluded for the commitment to invest, that they are aware of the risks associated with the...

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  09/12/2021

  Reforming the Appointed Representative regime

  HMT’s call for evidence HMT has overall responsibility for the legislative framework for the regulation of ARs. The FCA is responsible for the regulation and supervision of principal firms. HMT has not yet reached a conclusion on whether reform is necessary, this is only a call for evidence. If HMT concludes that reform is needed, it will consult on proposals. HMT is asking for comments on these potential reforms: (1) Changing the scope of the AR regime: If there is strong evidence to suggest a regulated activity is generating an unacceptable level of risk for consumers or market integrity,...

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  15/11/2021

  Focusing on Funds – The Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF)

  Background The provision for the LTAF is part of a wider drive from the government and the Bank of England to direct pension investment towards illiquid UK assets to support the country’s recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. As stated in an open letter from the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to the pensions industry, the government’s strategy is to ignite “an Investment Big Bang, to unlock the hundreds of billions of pounds sitting in UK institutional investors and use it to drive the UK’s recovery”. To further support this strategy, within the Budget 2021 the...

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