The FCA offers flexibility to Article 3 firms facing increased MiFID compliance obligations

April 7th 2017

Following a period of consultation with the industry, the FCA has announced that it will be softening its application of MiFID II electronic communications recording (aka ‘taping’) requirements for Article 3 firms. The announcement follows a call from the Association of Professional Financial Advisors urging the FCA not to disproportionately “gold-plate” MiFID II regulations for the advisor market.

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The European Commission adds clarity to MiFID II Call Recording and Record Keeping Requirements

Introduction

The European Commission has released a supplementary document to provide firms with further details on a range of MiFID II provisions. Included in the document is information pertaining to organisational requirements and operational conditions that will become applicable under the new Directive. This document will be of particular interest to those firms seeking a greater understanding of changes to call recording and record keeping requirements stipulated by MiFID II.

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MiFID II: The Key Facts and Common Misconceptions

Introduction

The Financial Services industry in Europe is facing radical new changes to the way its business is regulated. The recasting of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, known as MiFID II, represents the biggest shake-up of regulatory legislation in the European financial sector for over a decade. Far-reaching new rules aim to strengthen investor protection, prevent market abuse, increase transparency and re-establish consumer trust. However, meaningful engagement with the Directive has been slow. The scale, complexity and number of new regulations has resulted in a delayed response across the industry - and for firms based in the UK this has been compounded further by the result of the recent EU referendum. In this article we take an at-a-glance look at MiFID II and address some common misconceptions regarding the impact of the Brexit vote.

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An Introduction to the GDPR

September 13 2016

Introduction

For several years the European Commission has been planning a new Data Protection Regulation for European member states. Designed to provide a common legal framework for data protection law and to protect the data assets and privacy of individuals within the EU, the GDPR represents the biggest shake-up of data protection regulation in more than twenty years. Now that the process of agreement has been completed and the GDPR is finally a reality, the time has come for businesses across the spectrum to prepare for the new data protection landscape.

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