Background

Welcome to the November edition of Banking and Capital Markets Insight, which focuses on technical issues currently coming out of the banking, capital markets, securities and fund management arenas.

Key findings

Our articles cover the following diverse areas:

  • Mark Kennedy and James Paul on the importance of drafting a clear Tax Policy to articulate the tax goals, standards, accountabilities and reporting, both internally and externally, of a financial services firm and to meet the governance expectations of regulators and tax authorities;
  • Kush Patel on the International Accounting Standards Board's new 'general' hedge accounting model, which was issued in near final form in September 2012. The model introduces a principles based test for hedge effectiveness, which replaces the current 80-125 percent quantitative test, and a fair value alternative where firms economically only hedge the credit risk elements of transactions, where certain credit risk hedging conditions are met;
  • Manmeet Rana on the European Parliament's proposed amendments to the European Commission's Level 1 MiFID II proposals ahead of the 'trialogue', which include significant changes for firms providing sponsored access to markets, commodities firms, the requirement for position limits for cash and physically settled commodity positions, and some relaxations on the proposed ban on inducements for portfolio managers and financial advisers;
  • Fiona Syer on the EU Commission proposals for recovery and resolution planning for non-banks, which are due to be implemented by the end of 2013, and which include insurers and hedge funds, and central infrastructure providers, such as exchanges, central clearing counterparties, payment and settlement firms and trade repositories; and
  • Julian Colborne-Baber on the need to focus on reputational risk management in the light of the current wave of reputational issues which are impacting firms across the financial sector, with a strong tone from the top being a vital component of maintaining appropriate core values throughout an organisation.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding any aspect of topics discussed in this publication please let us know.

Download Banking and Capital Markets Insight (PDF)

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.