The main topics we're focusing on this week are:

Notification window opens for Brexit temporary permissions regime

Inbound passporting EEA financial services firms wishing to continue operating in the UK within the scope of their current permissions after Brexit, and fund managers wishing to continue to market passported funds in the UK after Brexit, can now do so by notifying the FCA of their wish to enter the temporary permissions regime. The temporary permissions regime will allow EU-based firms and funds which currently access the UK market by way of an inbound 'passport' to continue to serve their UK customers for up to three years in the event that the UK exits the EU without a formal implementation period in place, giving them time to apply for full authorisation. No reciprocal temporary permissions regime has yet been proposed by the EU for UK firms and funds which currently rely on outbound passports to serve customers in other EU member states. The FCA opened the notification window for the TPR today, on 7 January, and it will remain open until 28 March 2019, the day prior to when the UK is scheduled to exit the EU. Read more...

PRA clarifies application of SMCR to temporary permissions regime (TPR)

The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has issued a note clarifying the way it and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) propose they will apply the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) to firms using the temporary permissions regime (TPR) after Brexit. The note includes answers to frequently asked questions on how the SMCR is currently applied to EEA and third country branches and on how the PRA and FCA propose the SMCR will apply to dual-regulated European Economic Area (EEA) firms currently operating in the UK via a branch using the establishment passport and that are entering the TPR. The note makes it clear that the TPR, including with regard to the proposals on the SMCR in the note that relate to it, will only apply if there is no transition or implementation period in place following the UK's departure from the EU on 29 March. Read more...

Change in regulation of claims management companies

ANALYSIS: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will become responsible for the regulation of claims management companies in Great Britain from April this year in a move broadly welcomed within the insurance sector. Legislation implementing the reforms provides some details on how the new regime will work.
Currently, claims management companies in England and Wales are regulated by the Claims Management Regulation Unit (CMRU), a unit that sits within the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), while claims management companies in Scotland are not regulated at all. From 1 April 2019 this will change, as the FCA will take over from the MoJ's unit as the regulator of claims management companies (CMCs) in England and Wales and on the same date assume regulatory responsibility for claims management companies in Scotland. Read more...

Pension cold calling ban in force from 9 January

Regulations banning 'cold calls' relating to pensions have been passed by parliament, and will come into force on 9 January 2019. The Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations give effect to a ban first announced by the government in August 2017. The ban covers unsolicited calls, emails and text messages about pensions. It will be enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which has the power to issue fines of up to £500,000 for breaches. "This has taken a long while, but finally means that cold calls in relation to pensions will be officially banned come early in the New Year," said pension scams expert Ben Fairhead of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. "It remains debatable how effective the ban will be in deterring scammers, but it might well deter more individuals from transferring their pension funds into scams when they are told the cold calls they have received were illegal." Read more...

EU-US Privacy Shield passes second annual review

The US government has been given until the end of February next year to appoint a permanent ombudsperson to handle data protection complaints from EU citizens. The nomination by the US of a permanent ombudsperson to address complaints raised about US authorities' access to EU citizens' data is a requirement of the EU-US Privacy Shield, an important framework that facilitates the free flow of personal data across the Atlantic for businesses. The Privacy Shield enables US businesses to self-certify to a number of privacy principles and is underpinned by a framework of privacy safeguards and of enforcement. Despite the lack of a permanent ombudsperson, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday that the Privacy Shield had passed its second annual review. Read more...

Insurance briefing is a round-up of legal and business developments published on  Out-Law.com.

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