On February 25, 2016, HM Treasury published the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Regulations 2016 together with an explanatory memorandum. The Regulations implement the provisions of the European UCITS V Directive and relate to depositaries, remuneration as well as sanctions for breaching the Directive. The Regulations also set out certain requirements for the FCA relating to information that is provided and reported to the European Securities and Markets Authority.
The Regulations include: (i) amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, which allows for the disciplinary powers that may be taken against authorized persons, approved persons and senior managers, also being exercisable in the case of contravention of these Regulations; (ii) provisions enabling the FCA to exercise powers to cancel an authorized person's permission to carry on regulated activities in cases where there have been serious breaches of the requirements imposed by the Regulations; and (iii) provisions requiring the FCA to establish procedures for receiving and following up on reports on infringements under the Directive and providing ESMA with aggregated information on all penalties and measures that have been imposed under the Directive, on an annual basis. The Regulations enter into force on March 18, 2016.
The Regulations are available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/225/pdfs/uksi_20160225_en.pdf and the Explanatory Memorandum is available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/225/pdfs/uksiem_20160225_en_001.pdf.
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