Global Fintech & Digital Assets Blog

Tag Archives: FCA

FCA Board Focuses on AI

A new publication from the UK’s financial regulator signals to firms that they should take steps to manage risks in the use of AI. By Stuart Davis, Fiona M. Maclean, Gabriel Lakeman, and Imaan Nazir The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its latest board minutes highlighting its increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI), … Continue Reading

FCA Consults on Revamped Guidance for Financial Promotions on Social Media

Regulator clarifies that existing FCA rules will continue to apply but will also reflect the evolving landscape of financial promotions on social media. By Nicola Higgs, Stuart Davis, Fiona Maclean, Gabriel Lakeman, and Gary Whitehead On 17 July 2023, the FCA published a guidance consultation (GC23/2) relating to financial promotions on social media. Acknowledging that … Continue Reading

HM Treasury Publishes Draft Legislation to Regulate BNPL Lending

A consultation that will remain open until 11 April 2023 offers further clarity on the proposals to regulate buy-now-pay-later products. By Rob Moulton, Becky Critchley, Ella McGinn, and Dianne Bell On 14 February 2023, HM Treasury published its consultation and accompanying draft legislation on the regulation of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) lending. The consultation follows the proposals … Continue Reading

UK to Regulate Cryptoasset Promotions

HM Treasury has confirmed that it will bring certain unregulated cryptoassets within scope of the financial promotions regime. By Stuart Davis, Rob Moulton, and Charlotte Collins On 18 January 2022, the UK government confirmed its intention to bring the promotion of certain cryptoassets into scope of regulation. HM Treasury has been considering for some time … Continue Reading

Implementing Technology Change — Successes and Pitfalls in Financial Services

An FCA report evaluates the chequered implementation of technology change and identifies risks and best practices to help firms better navigate this change. By Andrew C. Moyle, Alain Traill, and Jagveen S. Tyndall Of the nearly 1,000 “material incidents” reported to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2019, 17% were caused by change-related activity. … Continue Reading

FCA Issues New Safeguarding Guidance for Payment and E-Money Firms Amid COVID-19

The additional temporary guidance aims to strengthen the arrangements for safeguarding customers’ funds and firms’ prudential risk management in light of the impact of COVID-19. By Stuart Davis, Brett Carr, and Anna Lewis-Martinez On 9 July 2020, the FCA published its finalised guidance on safeguarding customers’ funds during the COVID-19 crisis. The finalised guidance applies … Continue Reading

UK Government Proposes to Strengthen Protections Around Promotion of Financial Products and Cryptoassets

HM Treasury is planning significant changes to the financial promotion regime, including expanding its scope to certain cryptoassets, and amending the approval process for promotions of unauthorised firms. By Stuart Davis, Sam Maxson, and Anna Lewis-Martinez On 20 July 2020, HM Treasury published two consultation papers on a regulatory framework for approval of financial promotions … Continue Reading

Regulator Raises Concerns Over Alternative Data

The FCA is considering whether alternative data could introduce new risks to market integrity. By Rob Moulton, Fiona Maclean, Stuart Davis, and Charlotte Collins The FCA’s recently published Insight article explores how alternative data might give rise to market abuse risks. The article reports a significant increase in spending on alternative data in recent years, … Continue Reading

Open Finance: The Next Frontier in Fintech?

Call for input: Industry needs to engage as the FCA moves forward on its transformative vision for open finance. By Stuart Davis and Brett Carr Imagine a world in which you could access your bank accounts, credit cards, mortgage, pensions, savings accounts and ISAs, brokerage account, home and car insurance, life insurance, and other financial … Continue Reading

Crypto Coming of Age: UK Regulation Hits Cryptoasset Business

New regulatory requirements, including registration and customer disclosure requirements, apply to regulated and unregulated persons carrying on relevant cryptoasset business. By Stuart Davis and Sam Maxson On 20 December 2019, the UK government published the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (the Amending Regulations). The Amending Regulations update the Money Laundering, Terrorist … Continue Reading

Trends in Outsourcing Regulation and Supervision in Financial Services

Insights from Latham’s flagship event: Managing the risk and promise of digitisation in financial services Authors: Andrew Moyle, Nicola Higgs, Christian McDermott, and Kirsty Watkins. The financial services industry is leading the way in outsourcing, with contract values in excess of US$10.7 billion in 2018, causing regulators to focus more than ever on the associated … Continue Reading

Latest UK Developments on the Regulation of Cryptoassets

FCA finalises guidance on cryptoassets and consults on product intervention measures. By Stuart Davis and Charlotte Collins FCA guidance on the regulation of cryptoassets As previously reported in this blog, the FCA consulted on guidance on cryptoassets in January 2019. This guidance is designed to help market participants understand how to classify different types of … Continue Reading

UK FinTech State of the Nation Report Highlights UK’s Leading Position

Report highlights key strengths and regulatory innovations to inform stakeholders for trade and investment. By Laura Holden and Nootan Vegad The Department for International Trade, with the support of Innovate Finance, has published a report titled the “FinTech State of the Nation”. Providing an overview of the UK’s FinTech industry and highlighting the UK’s appeal … Continue Reading

Will Developments in the UK’s Regulation of Cryptoassets Bring Them Into The Mainstream?

UK regulators are addressing regulatory uncertainty through a number of regulatory initiatives due for implementation in 2019. By Stuart Davis Background Following the FCA’s consultation paper that offers guidance on the regulatory status of cryptoassets published in January 2019, the regulator is now engaging with the industry and other stakeholders such as law firms to … Continue Reading

FCA Consumer Research on Cryptoassets: A Summary

As part of its ongoing work to investigate and understand the UK cryptoassets sector the FCA has published the findings of two pieces of complementary consumer research on cryptoassets. By Sam Maxson and Stuart Davis Following the publication of the UK Cryptoassets Taskforce final report in October 2018, the FCA has engaged in a series … Continue Reading

FCA Publishes Policy Statement Extending Rules to Payment Services and E-Money Sectors

From August 2019, certain existing FCA rules and guidance will extend to payment service providers and e-money issuers in a signal that the FCA wants a consistent approach to consumer protection. By Rob Moulton, Brett Carr, and Frida Montenius The FCA has published a Policy Statement extending certain rules and guidance to the payment services … Continue Reading

Private Equity and Blockchain: New Infrastructure or New Asset Class?

By Andrew Moyle and Stuart Davis Growth in applications for blockchain and tokenisation, combined with an increasing number of initial coin offerings (ICOs), mean that buyout firms should note developments in this sector. Why Should PE Be Interested in Blockchain? A shared blockchain ledger could drive a single interface between a PE fund and its … Continue Reading

FCA to Create Global Financial Innovation Network

FCA teams up with other regulators to advance its idea of creating a global regulatory sandbox. By Stuart Davis, Gabriel Lakeman, Sam Maxson, Brett Carr and Charlotte Collins The FCA, along with several other financial services regulators, has launched a consultation on the operating framework for a Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN). This is an … Continue Reading

FCA Speaks Out on the Ethics of Big Data

FCA Chair hints that new regulation addressing data ethics in the FinTech space may be on the horizon. By Nicola Higgs, Fiona Maclean and Terese Saplys Will societies of the future be ruled by algocracy, in which algorithms decide how humans are governed? Charles Randell, Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems … Continue Reading

FCA Supports Guidelines on the Open Banking Fall-Back Provisions Exemption

The FCA has outlined its approach to implementing key standards under the revised Payment Services Directive. By Christian McDermott, Stuart Davis, Brett Carr, and Charlotte Collins The FCA has published a statement on its website relating to the European Banking Authority’s (EBA’s) Opinion and draft Guidelines of 13 June 2018 on the Regulatory Technical Standards … Continue Reading

FCA Sets Expectations for Robo-Advisers

Many auto advisers and automated discretionary investment managers risk poor outcomes for customers by falling short of FCA expectations. By Nicola Higgs and Brett Carr The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a statement outlining its expectations of firms providing automated online discretionary investment management (ODIM) services and retail investment auto advisers (auto advisors). The … Continue Reading
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