Regulatory Reform – the New UK Regime: Law-Now Alerts, Tools and Latest News
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Regulatory reform – the new UK regime: Law-Now alerts, tools and latest news Law-Now alerts and other tools Chart: International, European and UK institutions (the 2013 position) (3/07/13) Law-Now: “ The Banking Standards Report: The new offence of reckless misconduct ” (18/07/13) Law Now: “ The Government responds to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards Report ” (12/07/13) Law-Now: “ Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards Final Report ” (25/06/13) Click here to access archived Law-Now alerts and other tools Latest news Topics covered UK FSCS reform UK The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2014/823 (C.32) This Order brings into force certain provisions of the Act relating to the competition functions given to the Payment Services Regulator (established under this Act) concurrently with CMA (established under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013). This is the fourth commencement order to be made under the Act. (Date in force: 1/04/14) (27/03/14) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/823/pdfs/uksi_20140823_en.pdf The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Consumer Credit) (Transitional Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2014/835 This Order makes various supplemental and transitional provisions in consequence of provisions made by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2013/1881) (“the RAO Amendment No. 2 Order”). Article 2 amends the RAO Amendment No. 2 Order. Part 20 FSMA provides an exemption from the need for authorisation for members of professional bodies who carry on regulated activity which is merely incidental to the provision of professional services; such regulated activity must be the only regulated activity the member firm undertakes. By virtue of the RAO Amendment No. 2 Order, various consumer credit-related activities become regulated activities for the purposes of FSMA on 1 April 2014; and that Order makes provision for persons with licences issued under CCA 1974 to obtain interim permission to carry on that activity. The amendments in article 2 preserve the effect of the exemption in Part 20 FSMA where a member firm has an interim permission. (Date in force: 1/04/14) (27/03/14) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/835/pdfs/uksi_20140835_en.pdf BoE: FPC meeting (19 March 2014) BoE has published a short statement noting the above-mentioned FPC meeting. Among matters discussed: the 2014 bank stress testing exercise; FCA’s work which will allow FPC to give guidance on appropriate interest rate stress tests to be used by banks in their affordability tests. UK monetary policy and financial stability; review of the role of the leverage ratio within the capital framework (see second link below for ToR); disclosure of capital ratios and work on cyber risks. The Record of the FPC meeting will be published on 1 April. (27/03/14) http://www.bankofengland.co.uk//publications/Pages/news/2014/025.aspx http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/news/2014/062.aspx NAO: The FCA and PRA: Regulating financial services NAO’s report notes that the combined forecast cost of FCA and PRA is £664m in 2013-14, which equates to 24% higher than the cost of FCA and found “encouraging” signs that changing regulatory approaches are “bedding down” which encouraged earlier and more decisive regulatory intervention. However, concerns were raised over the following: staffing issues (current levels of staff turnover are high – 26% of those who have resigned from PRA were classed as ‘high- performers’ and more than a third of FCA’s staff had less than two years’ services at FCA/FSA); the regulators’ approach to data collection and the approach to coordination of action between the regulators. Among its recommendations, NAO urges PRA and FCA to establish a body of evidence from experience of managing potential conflicts between prudential and conduct regulation. The full report appears in the first link and an executive summary in the second. (25/03/14) http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Regulating-financial-services.pdf http://www.nao.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2015/03/Regulating-financial-services-summary.pdf The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2014/772 (C.28) This Order brings into force on 21/03/14 s139 and s 140(1) to (3) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (c. 33) (“the 2013 Act”). This is the second commencement order to be made under the 2013 Act. Section 139 amends the Compensation Act 2006 (c. 29) (“the 2006 Act”) to create a power for the Claims Management Regulator to impose penalties on persons providing claims management services. Section 140(1) to (3) amends the 2006 Act to allow the recovery of expenditure incurred by the Office for Legal Complaints in dealing with claims management complaints. (21/03/14) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/772/pdfs/uksi_20140772_en.pd f The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2014/785 (C.29) This Order brings into force on 21/04/14 s140(4) to (6) of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (c. 33) (“the Act”). This is the third commencement order to be made under the Act. Section 140(4) to (6) amends the Legal Services Act 2007 (c. 29) to allow the recovery of expenditure incurred by the Office for Legal Complaints in dealing with claims management complaints. (21/03/14) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/785/pdfs/uksi_20140785_en.pd f TSC: Hearings with BoE’s new Deputy Governors and Chairman of Court Further to announcements earlier in the week, TSC is to hold pre-appointment hearings with the newly appointed officials. It is expected that the hearings will take place prior to their taking up their posts. (20/03/14) http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/treasury-committee/news/pre-appointment- hearing-bank-of-england-new-chairman/ HMT: The Budget 2014 – FPC: Remit and recommendations The Budget announces that HMT has provided FPC with its remit and recommendations for the year ahead, as required by the Bank of England Act 1998 (as amended by the Financial Services Act 2012). (19/03/14) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293985/PU1650_Remit_and_Recommendatio ns_for_FPC__print_.pdf HMT: Record of the meeting between the Governor of BoE and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the November 2013 financial stability report (30 January 2014) HMT has published the minutes of this meeting. Topics include: FPC’s consideration of UK housing market developments and FPC’s medium-term priorities (stated as being: the medium-term capital framework for banks; ending “too big to fail”; and shadow banking and resilient market-based finance). (13/03/14) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288579/Minute_of_Gov- Chx_meeting_Jan_30_2014.pdf 2 The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Consumer Credit) (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2014/506 This Order makes various supplemental, consequential and transitional provisions in consequence of provisions made by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2013/1881) (“the RAO Amendment No. 2 Order”) and the Financial Services Act 2012 (Consumer Credit) Order 2013/1882) which bring the regulation of consumer credit under FSMA and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Consumer Credit) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2014/208). Amendments include: exemptions from the need to be authorised under FSMA for charities that operate an electronic system for lending which facilitates loans under which the only amount paid to the lender is the amount lent, and for and persons who have rights under a regulated credit agreement or regulated consumer hire agreement (for example, special purpose vehicles who acquire such rights using the proceeds of a bond issue) provided that the agreement is administered by an authorised person; aligning the application of the restriction under FSMA on financial promotions with the requirement for authorisation and amending CCA 1974 to preserve the application of s126 of that Act (enforcement of land mortgages) to residential and buy-to-let mortgages. (Dates in force: 30/03/14/1/04/14) (7/03/14) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/506/pdfs/uksi_20140506_en.pdf FCA: Payments systems regulation FCA has published a “call for inputs” which asks interested parties to provide input that will assist the future payment services regulator to understand the current concerns of the UK payments industry, develop its regulatory approach and design, and identify early priorities for action. HMT will conduct formal consultations on the regulatory framework and content later this year. Responses are required 15 April 2014. In addition, FCA has published a webpage which provides a timeline for the launch of the new regulator. (5/03/14) http://www.fca.org.uk/news/payment-systems-industry-new-regulator http://www.fca.org.uk/static/documents/psr-call-for-inputs.pdf http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/firm-types/payment- systems/timeline FCA: Payment systems FCA has published this webpage which provides information on FCA’s role in the creation of a new payment systems regulator in April 2014. The new regulator will launch in April 2015 when regulation will commence. It is noted that the regulator will be incorporated as a subsidiary of the FCA, but will be a separate legal entity with its own statutory objectives and board, including a managing director and chair whose appointments will be approved by HMT. However, Martin Wheatley and other FCA directors will sit on the board. The new regulator will be based at FCA's offices, and FCA will provide staff and services to it.