United Kingdom: Finance and Banking

The Financial Conduct Authority has released a series of regulatory updates and priorities for the investment management sector, introducing new operational resilience requirements, reforming advice market rules, and modernizing the redress system. These developments signal significant changes in how firms must approach consumer protection, operational incident reporting, and third-party arrangements while balancing growth objectives with regulatory compliance.

Regulators and Approved Reporting Mechanisms (ARMs) face the complex challenge of determining which financial transactions must be reported under MiFIR regulations. The Financial Instruments Reference Data Systems (FIRDS) serves as the critical infrastructure enabling this determination, but how exactly does this system work and what are its limitations?

Authorised push payment fraud represents a persistent challenge for modern banking, with victims losing hundreds of millions of pounds annually despite improved detection tools. The legal framework governing these disputes has evolved significantly, particularly following key court decisions that have clarified the scope of bank liability and the limits of common law remedies when customers are deceived into authorizing fraudulent transfers.