The Future Regulatory Framework and Consumer Duty will be key areas of focus for the coming year. By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, David Berman, Becky Critchley, and Charlotte Collins On 5 April 2023, the FCA published its Business Plan for 2023/24. The Business Plan sets out a number of priority areas for the regulator, tied into its three main areas of focus: reducing and preventing serious harm, setting and testing higher standards, and promoting competition and positive change. The FCA highlights four of these priority areas that will receive additional emphasis over the coming year. These p ..read more

Recent publications come in light of UK’s “greater autonomy” in setting AML and CTF regulations following Brexit. By Jon Holland, Rob Moulton, and Jonathan Ritson-Candler Background to the review On 22 July 2021, HM Treasury published both a Call for Evidence on a review of the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulatory and supervisory regime and a Consultation Paper on amendments, to be made via statutory instrument in Spring 2022 (the SI), to the UK’s key piece of AML and CTF legislation, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as amended (MLRs 2017). De ..read more

UK government encourages regulated firms to share customer information within corporate groups, highlighting interaction with firms’ obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and GDPR. By Rob Moulton, Jonathan Ritson-Candler, Fiona Maclean, and Olga Phillips The UK government has published a statement endorsing the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) recommendations that regulated financial institutions should be required to implement group-wide anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) programmes that provide a framework for information to be shared within th ..read more

The consultation sets out four potential models for reform, and also considers reform to sanctions supervision. By Rob Moulton, Jonathan Ritson-Candler, Thomas F. Lane, and Charlotte Collins On 30 June 2023, HM Treasury published a consultation on reforms to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) supervision in the UK. HM Treasury is consulting on structural reforms to how AML and CTF requirements on firms are supervised and enforced, but is not consulting on changes to the AML and CTF requirements themselves at this stage. A separate consultation on changes to the ..read more

The CFTC and the DOJ both now pursue enforcement actions against trading in commodities based on misappropriation of confidential information. By Douglas K. Yatter, Sohom Datta, and Cameron J. Sinsheimer Among the many changes resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act, one that has been slow to develop, but broad in its significance, is the assertion of authority by the CFTC to police insider trading in commodities markets. Starting in 2015, the agency began bringing enforcement actions against individuals and companies for trading based on misappropriation of confidential information. Since then, the ..read more

In a leading case, the Court examined the extent of the duty of care that a bank owes to its customers when executing their orders. By Andrea Monks and Nell Perks On 30 October 2019, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Daiwa’s appeal in the case of Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Limited [2019] UKSC 50. The decision marks the first successful claim for breach of the Quincecare duty that banks owe to their customers. Latham & Watkins expects to see further examination of the duty as instances of fraud continue to rise and the courts consider the d ..read more

10 Key Regulatory Focus Areas for UK/European Wholesale Markets in 2019 By David Berman, Carl Fernandes  Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, and Charlotte Collins The fourth post in this 10-blog series considers the latest developments in relation to the Market Abuse regime. This is taken from our wider publication: 10 Key Regulatory Focus Areas for UK/European Wholesale Markets in 2019 – Progress Report. Read the full publication here. FCA’s focus areas The FCA’s latest speech on market abuse emphasised the importance of having appropriate market abuse co ..read more

FATF has published its highly anticipated report on the effectiveness of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures. By Jon Holland, Rob Moulton, and Jonathan Ritson-Candler On 7 December 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its highly anticipated mutual evaluation report of the UK. The report sets out the UK’s global standing in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. The report is generally positive, ranking the UK as either highly or substantially effective in its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the majori ..read more

Examples of good and poor practices provide helpful guidance, and a reminder of supervisory expectations. By Frida Montenius, Jonathan Ritson-Candler, and Charlotte Collins The FCA has published TR18/3, setting out the findings from its thematic review of the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) systems and controls in 13 Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs). Although the review only focused on EMIs, the findings have wider read-across and therefore are of interest to all firms within scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017). Indeed, given th ..read more