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In this article, we have a look at the new FCA mandated regulatory return, REP021e, including guidance for completion and overview of key definitions - in relation to fees, charges .

In this article, we have a look at the new FCA mandated regulatory return, REP021d, including guidance for completion and overview of key definitions - in relation to closed book of business.

In this article, we have a look at the new FCA mandated regulatory return, REP021c, including guidance for completion and overview of key definitions.

Following a thematic review of the general insurance industry, the FCA found concerning practices within the motor insurance sector, predominantly surrounding pricing practices. 

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In light of its findings, the FCA published its consultation paper on General insurance pricing practices remedies (CP20/19), proposing a package of remedies to address the issues identified. We have a look at the key provision and new regulatory returns in the REP021 package.

In January 2022, the Government published a consultation response setting out its intention to legislate to bring the promotions of certain cryptoassets within the FCA’s remit. This regime will apply to all firms marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers regardless of whether the firm is based overseas or what technology is used to make the promotion.

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Read our brief overview here and download our free self-assessment.

The EU Whistleblowing Directive is a legislative measure designed to encourage transparency, integrity, and accountability within both public and private sectors across EU member states. The directive establishes a framework for protecting whistleblowers, which is crucial for facilitating the reporting of illegal activities, corruption, and other misconduct.

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​The EU whistleblowing directive also includes provisions for cross-border whistleblowing

For complaints referred to the Fos between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2022 about acts or omissions by firms on or after April 1, 2019, the limit will be £350,000 and for complaints before this date, the limits will remain at £150,000.

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Read more about what it means to firms and how to prepare with our free desk-aid.

The FCA have conducted a multi-firm review of 25 FCA solo-regulated firms which had experienced fast growth over a 3-year period, they assessed the impact of this rapid growth on their financial and non-financial resources. The review focused on risk management practices, governance arrangements and adequacy of financial resources at firms across 3 business models.

In this update, we look at the key areas raised by the FCA following their first market review. 

In this article, we have a look at the key regulatory instruments introduced by the new Consumer Duty.

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The in particular, we explore how the new Principle 12, Cross-cutting rules and the four outcomes should be considered by firms.

In this article, we have a look at the key implementation deadline for firms subject to the new consumer duty.

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The FCA made clear that firms will be subject to scrutiny and thus must be ready to evidence how they will fully (and promptly) comply with the new FCA expectations.

For some time, it has been known that the current regulatory regime does not leave a lot of room for the FCA to pro-actively engage with firms with respect to their obligations towards their ARs.

Therefore, the new rules (explained in PS22/11: Improvements to the Appointed Representatives regime) aim at addressing the FCA’s perceived significant shortcomings amongst Principal firms in the current regime, including insufficient oversight of their Appointed Representatives (AR). 

Since 10 January 2020, the FCA have been the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) supervisor of UK cryptoasset businesses (under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017).

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So what crypto-asset firms require to be registered (or even authorised) before commencing trading? Non-compliance is a potentially criminal offence...

In this article, we will strive to introduce the key types of Cryptoassets and whether these assets are likely to be regulated or unregulated assets within the UK. As you will see later on, it is important that firms remain aware of multiple regulations. In particular, a cryptoasset may be an FCA regulated instrument, by being: 

• specified investments under the RAO

• financial instruments under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)

• e-money under the E-Money Regulations (EMRs)

• within the scope of the Payments Services Regulations (PSRs)

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 with a Withdrawal Agreement, starting the transition period until 31 December 2020.

During the transition period, EU law will continue to apply in the UK, however come January 2021, the UK will formally leave the EU, impacting all firms and bringing an end to the "passporting regime".

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So what are these key risks that impact national firms?

Whilst the FCA is not prescriptive in how a regulated firm is to achieve compliance, implementation and active use of a suitable risk management system is a compliance must!

The FCA’s expectation of firms is that that risk management regimes must pass the “use test”, as opposed to being a compliance “tick-box”. In this article, we explore the key FCA rules and ways to achieve compliance.

Often organisations evaluate risks during a desk-based exercise and record them using a Risk Register with an allocated rating for probability of occurrence and another for its impact on the organisation; creating an overall indication of relative priority.

It’s a process fraught with deficiencies and ambiguities that perpetuates the gap between the appearance of risk management and the effective management of risks.

LGPD applies to any individual whose data has been collected or is being processed while inside the territory of Brazil. 

LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados)

• empowers data subjects with nine rights,

• defines what constitutes personal data,

• creates ten legal bases for lawful processing.

June 2020 the FCA has issued a finalised guidance outlining their expectations from all solo-regulated firms to conduct appropriate financial resilience assessment. 

In this short read, we review what the key elements are.

The FCA has issued a temporary guidance to firms, outlining their expectations of firms when it comes to supporting customers in financial difficulties, created by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

SM&CR comes into force for all FCA regulated firms (solo-regulated) on 9 December 2019. In this article, we introduce the key components.

In this article, we will review some of the question we frequently received from our clients in relation to criminal checks under the SM&CR regime (DBS checks).

In this short article, we introduce the Mandatory Annual Update, a new obligation on firms to attest to the accuracy of their firm details via the Connect system.

The FCA will replace the existing Approved Person regime with the enhanced Senior Managers and Certification Regime. We review how SM&CR will be implemented for Senior Managers and the key implications for NEDs.