News & Insights

CPMI & IOSCO’s assessment methodology for financial market infrastructure (FMI) oversight expectations regarding critical service providers

by Emma Cleveland|4 February 2015|Industry News

Financial market infrastructures often contract out a number of their operations, such as IT and telecommunications, to third-party service providers. Their reliance on these third-party service providers makes the contracted services critical for the smooth functioning of the financial markets and hence they are often called ‘critical service providers’.

Focus of the FCA (MiFID II)

by Emma Cleveland|2 February 2015|Industry News

On 13 January 2015 the FCA issued an update regarding the actions the FCA and HM Treasury will be taking for the implementation of MiFID II. Three main workstreams were discussed:

Financial Stability Board – G20 Brisbane Summit

by Emma Cleveland|2 February 2015|Industry News

The Financial Stability Board (“FSB”) has recently published the following documents that were delivered to G20 leaders attending the Brisbane Summit (the G20 Leaders’ Summit is the principal forum for international economic cooperation and decision-making. As an annual event, the G20 gives world leaders the chance to share ideas and outline visions regarding key international […]

Financial Stability Board – Standards and processes for global securities financing data

by Emma Cleveland|28 January 2015|Industry News

The Financial Stability Board (“FSB”) has recently published its Standards and Processes for Global Securities Financing Data Collection and Aggregation report. The proposed standards are based on the policy recommendations in the FSB report Policy Framework for Addressing Shadow Banking Risks in Securities Lending and Repos.

The FCA’s TR14/19 Review on conflicts of interest arising out of the use of IHPs

by Emma Cleveland|10 December 2014|Industry News

The FCA have issued a report on their findings of a review of conflicts of interest arising from wealth management and private banking firms’ use of in-house investment products (“IHPs”) in retail discretionary and advisory investment portfolios. The regulator’s review was based on a sample of 18 wealth management and private banking firms with a […]

PFOF, HFT and the bigger picture

by Emma Cleveland|9 December 2014|Our Thinking

In its TR 13/14 thematic review, the FCA discussed the implications of payment for order flow on best execution and the integrity of the financial markets. The regulator took a clear stance against payment for order flow and declared its active pursuit against the practice. However, the commercial impact of payment for order flow and […]

FCA issues regulatory fees and levies policy proposals for 2015/2016

by Emma Cleveland|2 December 2014|Industry News

On 27 November 2014 the FCA issued their regulatory fees and levies policy proposals for 2015/16 (CP14/26 Regulatory fees and levies: policy proposals for 2015/16). In the paper they have set out the proposed policy changes to the regulator’s fee and levy regimes. The fees policy directly affects all regulated firms and this is reflected […]

Dark Liquidity – Why hide orders from the market?

by Emma Cleveland|27 November 2014|Our Thinking

Following the MiFID II conference on 18 September 2014, the FCA have expressed their pursuit towards more lit and transparent trading venues. MiFID II will set new caps on dark trading and will aim to achieve a balance between allowing for the maintenance of sufficient liquidity and bringing orders into the light. Dark trading as […]

Gross Negligence in English Contract Law

by Emma Cleveland|19 November 2014|Our Thinking

The distinction between Negligence and Gross Negligence in English contract law has been an issue in many commercial contracts for over a century. In order to reduce the confusion surrounding such matters we have written a brief of the leading case law on the matter and the most recent definition of Gross Negligence provided by […]

Fiduciary duties explained (Article 1 of our “Fiduciary Duties” Series)

by Emma Cleveland|18 November 2014|Our Thinking

The fiduciary relationship between a lawyer and their client is at the core of the English legal system. Regardless of its paramount importance to the proper functioning of the legal services industry, a degree of confusion remains around the particular duties owed by a fiduciary. For an explanation of the nature of fiduciary duties in […]