Pensions

Recent Articles

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  22/07/2024

  Key Takeaways from our AI in Financial Services Panel Event

  During our recent panel event on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) in Financial Services, the panel explored how firms are implementing AI in practice, the application of legal, regulatory and ethical frameworks to AI, and potential challenges for firms and regulators. An audience of legal, compliance and business professionals from across the sector made interesting contributions to the debate. The session operated under the Chatham House rule, but here are some of the key takeaways from what was a fascinating discussion....

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  09/07/2024

  Analyse, Assess and Address – Regulatory focus on Private Equity

  The Second Quarter of 2024 saw a series of publications by the Bank of England (BoE), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on potential risks the private equity (PE) sector poses to the regulated sector.  This article draws out the key themes in these recent developments before examining what it means for those impacted, including PE firms, PE owned financial services businesses, and lenders.Regulatory engagement with industry sectors tends to follow an analyse, assess and address model – regulators gather information about the sector, assess...

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  03/08/2022

  Cryptoassets held by individuals: Inheritance tax and pensions tax relief

  Tax Relief on Making Pension ContributionsSubject to certain limits, income tax relief is available to members in respect of member contributions paid to registered pension schemes.On the basis that HMRC does not consider cryptoassets to be currency or money, should cryptoassets be paid into a registered pension scheme, such contributions would not attract any income tax relief.If an individual nevertheless contributes cryptoassets into a registered pension scheme, albeit without any income tax advantages, such cryptoassets would become part of the scheme assets which are subject to the tax rules...

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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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  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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  26/10/2021

  Greening Finance: A Roadmap to Sustainable Investing

  What is the Roadmap? On 18 October 2021, the UK Government released its Roadmap to Sustainable Investing (the Roadmap), as part of a series of announcements in the lead up to COP26. The Roadmap sets out the Government’s proposed approach to tackling climate-related financial risks, encouraging UK investors and businesses to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in their decision-making processes. In particular, it is a call to action for the investment and pension sectors – the first step in helping shift investment focus and financial flows to a net-zero and nature...

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