This post was written by Ciara Davies

EU Commission Executive Vice President comments on financial crime action plan

On 30 September 2020, the European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis provided comments on the Commission's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing action plan.

Dombrovskis suggests entrusting national supervisors with ensuring that the supervision of non-financial sector obliged entities is carried out adequately with a proposed EU supervisor who would work alongside the national supervisors and play a co-ordination role.

To read Dombrovskis' whole speech please find a click here.

Equivalence Determinations for Financial Services (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (the "Regulations"

)

The Regulations, made on 29 September 2020, relate to the UK future regime for equivalence and add to measures made in the draft Financial Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, published in May 2020. The Regulations were published on legislation.gov.uk, together with an explanatory memorandum.

The Regulations came into force on 30 September 2020.

FCA reopens notification window for temporary permissions regime until end of 30 December 2020

The FCA has published an updated webpage on the temporary permissions regime (TPR). EEA firms and fund managers will have a new window in which they can notify the FCA if they plan to use the TPR.

Published alongside the updated webpage are the relevant revised FCA directions:

A revised direction for EEA or Treaty firms.

A revised direction for EEA operators of collective investment schemes (CISs).

A revised direction for EEA alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs), managers of European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECAs) and managers of European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEFs).

A revised direction for authorised payment institutions (APIs) and registered account information service providers (RAISPs).

A revised direction for e-money institutions (EMIs).

FCA updates webpage on considerations for firms preparing for end of Brexit transition period

The FCA has updated its webpage on Brexit considerations, which sets out the issues for UK firms to consider as they prepare for the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.

The FCA has included sections relating to serving your EEA customers, outsourcing, engaging with non-UK regulators and client money and custody assets.

FCA updates Brexit transitional directions and explains use of TTP

The FCA has published updated versions of the draft directions that it intends to make using its no-deal Brexit temporary transitional power (TTP). For more information please click here.

FCA updates Handbook to reflect Brexit amendments and publishes instruments applying at the end of the Brexit transition period 

On 1 October 2020, the FCA announced that it has updated its Handbook to reflect the amendments relating to Brexit that will come into effect at the end of the transitional period on 31 December 2020.

The amendments will give a view of how the FCA Handbook rules and guidance will look at the end of the transitional period.

The FCA has also published final versions of certain instruments amending its Handbook and BTS that will come into effect at the end of the transition period.

For more information please click here.

ESMA updates statements on impact of Brexit on BMR, MiFID II and MiFIR

ESMA published updated statements setting out its approach, in light of Brexit, to applying key provisions in the MiFID II Directive, MiFIR Directive and the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR).

ESMA has published the following statements:

  • Statement (ESMA80-187-610) on the conseqeunces of Brexit for the ESMA register for benchmark administrators and third-country benchmarks under the BMR.
  • Statement (ESMA70-155-10962) on its approach under MiFID II to the C(6) carve-out, the ESMA opinions on third-country trading venues for the purpose of post-trade transparency, and the position limits regime and post-trade transparency for OTC transactions. The statement also covers the implementing technical standards on main indices and recognised exchanges under the Capital Requirement Regulation (575/2013) (CRR).