The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a further consultation on its approach to the UK’s exit from the EU. Today’s paper sets out additional proposals to prepare for the possibility the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March 2019 without an implementation period. The FCA is working to ensure as smooth a transition as possible as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. Earlier this year, we set out the FCA’s role in preparing for Brexit. This consultation, along with those published in October, is an important part of this work.
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The Financial Conduct Authority proposed to introduce a price cap on the rent-to-own (RTO) sector. The cap, subject to consultation, will come into force on 1 April 2019 providing protection for some of the most financially vulnerable people in the UK. Once in force, the changes are expected to save consumers up to £22.7m per year.
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Commission sets out EU’s economic and social priorities for 2019 and confirms Italy’s serious non-compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact. The Commission adopted the Autumn package which represents the beginning of the 2019 European Semester cycle of economic and social policy coordination. Today’s package is based on the Autumn 2018 Economic Forecast and builds on the priorities set out in President Juncker’s 2018 State of the Union address.
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Societe Generale Group (SCGLY – Free Report) has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 billion to the authorities in the United States. This comes as this French banking giant decides to settle some of its long-pending legal disputes. Of the total fine, nearly $95 million is expected to be paid to settle a dispute over violations of anti-money laundering regulations. On the other hand, the bank said that it will pay $1.34 billion to settle allegations that it processed billions of dollars in transactions related to countries under sanctions.
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The new auto rules in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) could add costs for automakers and reduce the industry’s overall global competitiveness, industry representatives have warned. Testifying before the U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday, John Bozzella, president of the Association of Global Automakers, said the new agreement could hurt the industry. “It is clear that the USMCA auto origin rules will introduce unnecessary complexity, require costly changes to supply chains and potentially redundant investments.”
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In her speech, during the Fintech Festival in Singapore, Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, recognized that digitalization has its influence on the financial sector. So she said: “A new wind is blowing, that of digitalization. In this new world, we meet anywhere, any time. The town square is back – virtually, on our smartphones. We exchange information, services, even emojis, instantly… peer to peer, person to person. We float through a world of information, where data is the “new gold”- despite growing concerns over privacy, and cyber-security. A world in which millennials are reinventing how our economy works, phone in hand. And this is key: money itself is changing. We expect it to become more convenient and user-friendly, perhaps even less serious-looking.”
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its 2018 Resolution Report and is also launching for public consultation a discussion paper on financial resources to support central counterparty (CCP) resolution and on the treatment of CCP equity in resolution. The report updates on progress in implementing the framework and policy measures to enhance the resolvability of systemically important financial institutions and sets out the priorities for the FSB’s resolution work going forward.
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The European Commission issued its latest reports on steps taken by Bulgaria and Romania to meet their commitments on judicial reform and the fight against corruption, and in the case of Bulgaria organised crime, in the context of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The report on Bulgaria looks at the progress made over the past year to meet the final 17 recommendations issued by the Commission in the January 2017 report and positively notes Bulgaria’s continued efforts and determination to implement those recommendations. The Commission is confident that Bulgaria – if it pursues the current positive trend – will be able to fulfil all the remaining recommendations and thereby the outstanding benchmarks. This will enable the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism process for Bulgaria to then be concluded before the end of this Commission’s mandate – in line with the orientation given by President Jean-Claude Juncker when he started his term of office.
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Cappitech, a leading provider of regulatory reporting and intelligence technology for the financial services industry, announced the results of a survey of over 100 European buy- and sell-side compliance decision-makers.  The survey examined how MiFID II regulation has affected financial services organisations and how these plan to tackle new regulations such as Best Execution and RTS27/28 in order to improve their business processes.
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The European Central Bank (ECB) published its expectations regarding institutions’ internal capital and liquidity adequacy assessment processes (ICAAPs and ILAAPs). The guides, which are not legally binding, will be applied from 1 January 2019 and replace the expectations published in January 2016. They aim to assist banks in strengthening their ICAAPs and ILAAPs, and to encourage the adoption of best practices.
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