Securities and derivatives

Recent Articles

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  02/12/2024

  European Commission publishes draft notice on the EU Taxonomy Regulation

  On 29 November 2024, the European Commission published a draft notice, in the form of FAQs, on the interpretation and implementation of certain legal provisions of the Delegated Acts to the EU Taxonomy Regulation (the “Notice”).The Notice – which has been sought after by stakeholders for quite some time – provides technical clarifications regarding the application of general taxonomy requirements and technical screening criteria (“TSC”) for specific activities included in the Taxonomy Climate and Environmental Delegated Acts. The Notice also addresses the ‘do...

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  22/11/2024

  Pre-hedging: IOSCO publishes delayed Consultation Report

  On 21 November 2024, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) published a consultation paper in response to concerns about the appropriateness of pre-hedging practices raised by various market participants, standard setters and national and supra-national authorities. In short, pre-hedging is the well-established practice by which dealers in certain markets look to hedge their exposure to anticipated client orders for a number of reasons, including to enable the dealer to take on the risk of the client order once confirmed, and to offer a competitive price.BackgroundEuropean...

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  21/11/2024

  Critical third parties: final policy and rules demonstrate a welcome cooperation between regulators and industry

  The new critical third parties (CTPs) regime comes into force from 1 January, 2025 and will be hugely significant for designated CTPs to the UK financial sector.The policy statement issued jointly by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Bank of England (PS24/16/PS16/24) provides feedback to responses received to the consultation paper earlier this year.Overall, the finalised rules have focused this expansion of the regulatory perimeter on the most systemic risks to the financial industry presented by CTPs.ClarificationThe new rules offer some helpful...

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  08/11/2024

  Levelling the playing field in investment research: introducing payment optionality for pooled funds (FCA CP24/11)

  On 5 November 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a consultation paper (CP24/21) on investment research payment optionality for fund managers. The FCA is proposing to take forward the recommendations of the Investment Research Review (“IRR”) and feedback to its earlier consultation for MiFID investment firms, by extending payment optionality for investment research to fund managers and pooled funds (including UCITS and AIFs).The proposals would allow fund managers to purchase investment research by making joint payments (i.e. by paying for bundled investment...

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  30/10/2024

  October 2024 Highlights: Key UK and EU Operational Resilience Updates

  As the landscape of operational resilience continues to evolve, this past month has been particularly eventful, marked by significant developments in both the UK and EU. With the impending deadline for compliance with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) on January 17, 2025, institutions are racing to meet stringent requirements designed to enhance their resilience to digital threats. In the UK, the anticipation builds as regulators are due to publish the finalised Critical Third Parties Regime Rules by the end of 2024, which will further shape the operational resilience framework. Additionally,...

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  08/08/2024

  The new CBUAE Payment Token Services Regulation: 10 things you need to know

  In June 2024, the Central Bank of the UAE (“CBUAE”), the supervisory and regulatory authority of the banking and insurance sector within the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), published the long awaited Payment Token Services Regulation in Circular No.2 /2024 (the “PTSR”). The publication of the PTSR marks a significant development in the UAE’s regulatory framework for virtual assets. We have highlighted ten key issues below.1.      What activities are within scope of the PTSR?The PTSR sets out a comprehensive framework for licensing...

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