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UK
FCA sets out final rules to simplify UK transaction reporting and reduce the burden on firms
The FCA has published Policy Statement 26/15: Improving the UK transaction reporting regime (PS26/15), which sets out final rules to simplify UK transaction reporting and reduce the burden on firms. These final rules make changes to the scope, content and operation of the transaction reporting regime. The FCA expects these changes to reduce firms’ reporting costs by more than £100m annually. The changes include:
- Reducing the number of transaction reporting fields from 65 to 52.
- Removing reporting obligations for seven million financial instruments which are only tradeable on EU trading venues.
- Removing foreign exchange (FX) derivatives from the scope of reporting requirements, reducing costs for over 400 UK firms.
- Reducing the default back reporting period from five to three years. This will lower the number of transaction reports that need to be resubmitted to the FCA by a third.
The FCA will publish a draft schema, validation rules and new guidelines for consultation in October 2026. This consultation will also cover transitional provisions and consequential amendments to the FCA’s Handbook. The new regime will come into force on 3 April 2028. The FCA will take a flexible supervisory approach to some areas from 3 August 2026 until this date.
FCA publishes CBA Panel advice on framework for a UK equity consolidated tape
The FCA has published the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) Panel’s advice in relation to Consultation Paper 26/31: Policy Statement for the framework for a UK equity consolidated tape and next steps for delivery (CP26/31). It provided three main recommendations including:
- emphasise uncertainty of analysis and its reliance on key assumptions;
- reinforce analysis of the market, including with international comparative evidence; and
- strengthen analysis of unquantified benefits.
EU
ESAs propose amendments to bilateral margin requirements
The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) have published a final report on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), proposing to simplify the bilateral margin requirements of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/2251.
The proposed amendments aim to simplify the bilateral margin framework for counterparties that are subject to initial margin requirements and that are below the €8 billion threshold for exchanging initial margin foreseen by the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The changes are intended to facilitate the phase-out of initial margin requirements for these counterparties.
The Final Report has been submitted to the EC together with the draft RTS for endorsement. Following the EC's review and adoption process, the RTS will be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council before being published in the Official Journal (OJ).
EBA publishes a no-action letter and technical considerations to support the implementation of the FRTB for EU banks
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a no-action letter (set out as an Opinion which will be published in the OJ) on the boundary between the banking book and the trading book and shared technical clarifications on issues linked to the EC’s Delegated Act modifying the calculation of own funds requirements for market risk based on the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) framework. The EC’s Delegated Act is currently being scrutinised by the EP and the Council. The EBA’s no-action letter and technical considerations will become relevant once the Delegated Act enters into force.
In its no-action letter, the EBA recommends that competent authorities do not prioritise supervisory or enforcement action in relation to the provisions of the FRTB framework governing the boundary between the banking book and the trading book and internal risk transfers between these books, as well as certain related reporting requirements.
Finally, the EBA discusses the implications of the FRTB postponement for the market risk benchmarking exercise.
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