A report from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform provides recommendations for how the UK can “re-imagine” its approach to regulation post-Brexit.

By Rob Moulton, Stuart Davis, and Charlotte Collins

On 16 June 2021, the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (the Taskforce) published a report (the Report) providing recommendations for how the UK could “refresh” its approach to regulation post-Brexit. The UK government convened the Taskforce in February with the directive to “re-imagine, quickly and creatively, the UK’s approach to regulation”.

The Report, which covers a broad range of sectors, includes notable recommendations in relation to financial services regulation. While it does not suggest a “bonfire of regulations”, the Report does convey a desire to move away from the European style of technical and prescriptive rule-making. The focus is very much on creating a flexible and adaptive regulatory system in the UK to encourage innovation and growth. The Report also hints at some specific areas of onshored EU legislation that the government may target for change in the near term.

European Commission confirms SCA measures should apply to EU consumers purchasing from UK websites in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

By Christian F. McDermott, Jagveen S. Tyndall, and Amy Smyth

Complex payment processing chains comprise multiple entities operating behind the scenes to support everyday transactions.

The strong customer authentication (SCA) requirements introduced by the revised EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2) aim to reduce fraud and make online payments more secure (as described in previous posts of June and August 2019). SCA requires that a customer provide two forms of identification that meet the following criteria: