On 20 May 2025, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a policy statement (PS6/25) on business conducted within branches of international banks operating in the UK, as well as its booking model expectations...more
5/28/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
New Regulations ,
Policy Updates ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
The first four months of 2025 proved busy for the UK’s financial regulators, with both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) publishing their strategy and business plan documents. As...more
5/5/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptoassets ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Management ,
UK ,
White Collar Crimes
On 29 April 2025, HM Treasury published near-final draft legislation establishing a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets in the UK, along with a policy note explaining the intended policy outcomes of the...more
As the market for stablecoins continues to evolve in sophistication and scale, financial institutions in the UK and EU are increasingly exploring whether and how to engage with them, whether for treasury, payments, settlement...more
3/20/2025
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Digital Assets ,
E-Money ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Management ,
Popular ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Risk Management ,
Stablecoins ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
On 11 March 2025, the UK government announced its decision to abolish the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) as part of a broader initiative to reduce regulatory burdens and stimulate economic growth.
This action is intended to...more
3/14/2025
/ Bank of England ,
Banking Sector ,
Competition ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Payment Systems ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Small Business ,
UK ,
UK Payment Systems Regulator
On 1 November 2024, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a joint policy statement (PS 18/24) on the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increases in control. The...more
1/27/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Banking Sector ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Funds ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
New Regulations ,
Private Equity ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
UK
In the aftermath of the 2007-09 global financial crisis, the G20 nations committed to reforming bank remuneration frameworks in response to criticism that excessive risk-taking at banks incentivised by poorly structured pay...more
1/23/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Governance ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FSB ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Remuneration ,
Risk Management ,
UK
On 8 January 2025, the UK’s HM Treasury issued a statutory instrument amending the scope of “collective investment schemes” (the Amendment) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Collective Investment Schemes)...more
As part of the UK government’s drive to develop legislation for a UK regulatory regime to govern the cryptoassets sector, on 16 December 2024 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Discussion Paper DP24/4, which...more
12/23/2024
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Promotions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Market Abuse ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK
Financial services regulators are intensifying their scrutiny of non-financial misconduct (NFM) within the financial services industry.
Related to this, the insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London published a...more
In her first comments since the July 2024 UK general election, Economic Secretary to the UK Treasury Tulip Siddiq MP delivered a speech at the Tokenisation Summit on 21 November 2024 that outlined the recently elected UK...more
12/4/2024
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Stablecoins ,
UK
In the UK, 14 million people used “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) at least once in the six months leading up to January 2023. Frequent users were more than four times as likely as other consumers to have missed a payment on a...more
11/5/2024
/ Borrowers ,
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HM Treasury ,
HMRC ,
Lenders ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) ,
UK
On 12 September 2024, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published the second of two nearly final policy statements (PS9/24) on the implementation of revisions to the Basel 3 standards, known in the UK as Basel 3.1....more
This episode of “Fintech Focus” picks up where our last episode “Growing a Workforce in a Regulated Environment” left off. Part Two delves further into workplace considerations for fintechs, and focuses on how they can manage...more
As the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) consider feedback to their consultation on guidance regarding the UK change-in-controller regime (consultation paper 25/23), we provide a...more
9/9/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Corporate Governance ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Investment Management ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK
As growth-stage fintechs manage a rapidly increasing workforce, they are faced with onboarding senior-level hires within the scope of a complex regulatory environment in the U.K. On our latest “Fintech Focus” podcast, host...more
On 30 July 2024, the Bank of England published a discussion paper on its approach to innovation in money and payments (the Discussion Paper). A recurring theme is the Bank of England’s focus on the potential use of...more
The PRA has released an important statement on its approach to funded reinsurance. Our view is that the statement endorses the conceptual principle that funded reinsurance (particularly to offshore counterparties) should best...more
8/2/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Capital Requirements ,
Collateral Agreements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Life Insurance ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reinsurance ,
Risk Management ,
Solvency II ,
Standard Contractual Clauses ,
UK
As implementation of the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) approaches, financial market participants and their technology service providers (both in and out of Europe) face a critical compliance deadline. The new...more
7/19/2024
/ BaFin ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Technology Sector ,
UK