Welcome to the October edition of our monthly newsletter.
In the UK, a recent speech by the FCA's CEO highlights the key role a financial services regulator plays in attaining an appropriate balance between managing compliance risks and fostering effective competition, both nationally (for example regarding consumer choice) and internationally (a country's role in the global marketplace).
The notion that regulators – and by extension, compliance practitioners - are naturally and habitually risk-averse, is erroneous. Oftentimes, the most effective compliance departments are those which work alongside a firm's business units. This makes sense – compliance responsibility rests with the entire firm, with the tone coming "from the top" and the compliance department acting as the "fulcrum". There appears to be a welcome trend in not framing compliance solely as "the internal police".
October was a relatively quiet month in the US. The SEC's Division of Examinations released its 2025 examination priorities, providing insight into focus areas of future examinations. Although many of the areas revealed will not be of surprise, there are a few new focus areas to watch out for.
In addition, the National Futures Association has changed its BASIC database, which now excludes information on non-member exemption filers, such as "exempt" Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors. While these changes alter the visibility of certain entities, the process for making exemption filings and the publicly accessible information for registered NFA member entities remain unchanged.
For compliance professionals and regulated entities, understanding these changes now could be crucial in navigating a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. Dive into the details to stay prepared for what's ahead.
This month we cover the following:
- UK
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- The FCA's growth objective – challenges, trade-offs
- Ten years of FCA innovation: impact and opportunity
- Regulatory Initiatives Grid
- FCA publishes results of non-financial misconduct survey
- Double jeopardy: FCA fine for failure to report HMRC fine
- The KIDs are not all right: Reforms to EU-inherited retail-disclosure requirements
- Market Watch 80
- FCA begins criminal proceedings against two individuals for insider dealing
- Refusal of authorisation application on threshold condition grounds
- FCA wins appeal in BlueCrest case
- What's up with ECCTA? – One year on
- Overseas Funds Regime: new draft rules extend the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime and address inconsistencies
- Mutual recognition in financial services – HM Treasury publishes joint statement following first UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue
- EU
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- ESMA sets out ongoing initiatives in its 2025 work programme, newsletter and speeches:
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- ESMA's 2025 Work Programme
- ESMA's latest newsletter
- European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee: an opening statement from ESMA's Chair
- ESMA consults on amendments to the MiFID research regime
- Securities and Markets Stakeholder group advises on the MiFID/MiFIR third consultation package
- ESMA publishes new Q&A on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD"), the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities ("UCITS") and the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation ("MiCA")
- Sustainable finance: implementation timeline
- US
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- SEC Division of Examinations announces 2025 priorities
- NFA makes change to its BASIC database
- Investment adviser fined $500,000 over whistleblower violations
- Seven investment advisers among the 23 entities fined for late reporting in another SEC sweep
- SEC fines investment adviser $1.5 million for Material Nonpublic Information ("MNPI") failures
- Key upcoming dates and deadlines
Click below to view and download our October 2024 Newsletter:
October 2024 Monthly Regulatory Newsletter
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
