Funds and asset management

Recent Articles

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  05.05.2023

  FCA con­firms changes to UK equity mar­kets trans­par­ency re­gime and fi­nal­ises im­ple­ment­a­tion timetable

  In PS23/4: Improving Equity Secondary Markets, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed a range of targeted changes to the UK’s post-trade transparency regime, pre-trade transparency waivers and tick size regime for equity instruments that it consulted on in July 2022. The introduction of the new designated reporter (DR) regime will also affect trading in non-equity instruments. The FCA also provides an update on potential further reforms to operational resilience standards for trading venues and the retail service provider model.Firms will be pleased to see that the FCA has listened...

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  04.05.2023

  FCA pub­lishes con­sulta­tion pa­per on pro­posed re­forms to the UK list­ing re­gime

  On 3 May 2023 the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its consultation paper on the proposed UK equity listing rule reforms (and feedback to its discussion paper published in May 2022). The consultation paper follows extensive engagement on the UK listing regime and the recommendations from the UK Listing Review. It represents a substantial and welcome overhaul of the current listing regime, with the aim of making UK equity capital markets more competitive with other markets and attractive to companies considering an IPO. Key ProposalsThe consultation paper sets out a...

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  14.04.2023

  Re­view of the Seni­or Man­agers and Cer­ti­fic­a­tion Re­gime (SM&CR)

  On 30 March 2023, the Prudential Regulation Authority (“PRA”) and Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) (the PRA and FCA together being the “Regulators”) published a joint Discussion Paper (DP1/23) seeking input on potential ways to improve the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (“SM&CR” or the “Regime”). HMT has also separately launched a Call for Evidence to review legislative aspects of the regime. In December 2022, the government announced, as part of the Edinburgh Reforms, that HMT and the Regulators...

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  29.03.2023

  ESMA Pub­lic State­ment on de­riv­at­ives on frac­tions of shares

  On 28 March 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a Public Statement on derivatives on fractions of shares. Fractional share trading has risen in popularity in the UK and European markets in recent years, enabling retail investors to get direct exposure to tech companies and other issuers whose shares may be relatively expensive and which have traditionally been more frequently accessed indirectly through mutual funds. This exposure can be achieved through a trust-based or “co-ownership” model, under which multiple clients each have a beneficial claim...

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  21.12.2022

  FCA out­lines plans for the in­tro­duc­tion of a reg­u­lat­ory gate­way for firms which ap­prove fin­an­cial pro­mo­tions

  Background Under section 21 of FSMA, currently any firm that is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), may approve a financial promotion by another unauthorised person. However, the government is concerned that the current framework is no longer sufficient and gives rise to risks. The FCA is particularly concerned with the promotion of high-risk investments and ‘Buy-Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) products. The FCA has seen examples of promotions that do not warn consumers of the risks, such as the taking on of debt, missed payments and other consequences. The FCA...

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  15.12.2022

  FCA - Un­der­stand­ing ap­proaches to D&I in fin­an­cial ser­vices

  The FCA conducted its review via 12 regulated firms – 8 with large gender pay gaps and 4 with relatively small pay gaps. The average pay gap for the financial services market is 26.6%, which is far higher than the average for the wider UK market which is 12.1%. In conducting its review, the FCA asked each firm for some basic information including about their D&I policy and strategy, target setting initiatives and D&I data used. The FCA also requested a 90-minute structured interview with a senior individual and any relevant specialists at each firm. It is clear from the review that...

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