On 21 October 2021, HM Treasury published its much-anticipated consultation on the regulation of buy-now-pay-later products. The consultation arrives nearly seven months after the Treasury confirmed that it would formally consult on bringing BNPL products into the regulatory perimeter “as a matter of priority”.
Financial crime remains at the top of the regulatory agenda across the globe. As responses to the pandemic stabilise, and following some high-profile global incidents, regulators face renewed pressure to manage financial crime more effectively through robust supervision and enforcement. In the October 2021 edition of the City Library’s Compliance Officer Bulletin, our business crime, regulatory and cybersecurity lawyers explore the latest developments in anti-money laundering and financial crime in a series of articles
A series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends in different jurisdictions, drawing on Baker McKenzie’s expert financial services practitioners.
On 20 July 2021, the European Commission presented a package of legislative proposals establishing a new framework for the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime. The package will create an EU-wide AML supervisory authority, establish a new directly applicable single rulebook, and extend the scope and requirements of the regime including, significantly, to all cryptoasset service providers. In this briefing we explore the Commission’s proposals in more detail. We also set out considerations for UK firms, including HM Treasury’s recent consultations on the UK AML/CTF regime
The FCA has written a letter to the chairs of authorised fund managers on improving the quality and clarity of authorised ESG funds, setting out guiding principles on compliance with ESG obligations. The FCA’s letter is driven by concerns about the number of poor quality applications for funds marketed with a sustainability and ESG focus making claims that do not hold up under scrutiny. In the letter, the FCA criticises “the number of poor-quality [ESG/sustainable] fund applications we have seen and the impact this may have on consumers”, and requires material improvements to be made.
On 22 June 2021, HM Treasury (HMT) confirmed that it will take forward legislation to introduce a gateway for the approval of financial promotions of unauthorised persons. Once the gateway is in place, only firms which have successfully applied to the FCA to approve financial promotions will be permitted to approve the financial promotions of unauthorised persons.
This edition takes a bite-size look at the different rates of progress of environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulation and voluntary standards across the European Union, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Continuing its increasing focus on fair customer treatment and achieving good customer outcomes, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a consultation on a new Consumer Duty, which would set higher expectations for the standard of care that firms provide to consumers.
A series of briefings that take a ‘bite-size’ look at international trends in financial services regulation, drawing on the expertise of Baker McKenzie’s experienced practitioners located across the globe.
This edition of Bite-size Briefings, a series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends in different jurisdictions, explores the regulation of crypto (or digital assets) and, in this context, the development of anti-money laundering (AML) supervision in the UK, the US, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and Thailand.…