An evolving landscape of reforms in the ESG ratings sector continues to pose challenges to providers of ratings and scores. By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, Michael D. Green, Becky Critchley, Anne Mainwaring, and Charlotte Collins International momentum to regulate ESG ratings continues as the European Commission released a consultation on 13 June 2023 to create a new … Continue Reading
The Commission has clarified requirements for financial product classifications and the definition of “sustainable investment” under the SFDR. By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Michael D. Green, Anne Mainwaring, and James Bee In April 2023, the European Commission (Commission) published a series of answers to questions that the European Supervisory Agencies (ESAs) had raised in September 2022 on the legal interpretation of … Continue Reading
The government published a new document outlining its existing and proposed objectives to develop the UK’s sustainable economy. By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, and James Bee On 30 March 2023, the UK government published an updated version of its Green Finance Strategy (the Strategy), titled “Mobilising Green Investment”. The Strategy is part of the UK government’s … Continue Reading
The Commission is also consulting on proposed targeted amendments to the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and on the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act. By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, and James Bee On 5 April 2023 the European Commission opened a consultation on its proposal for four additional environmental objectives under the EU Taxonomy Regulation[1] (the Taxonomy), including: … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
The consultation considers what a potential regulatory regime would look like, and its proposed scope. By Nicola Higgs, Paul A. Davies, Becky Critchley, Anne Mainwaring, Ella McGinn, and Charlotte Collins On 30 March 2023, HM Treasury published a consultation on regulating ESG ratings providers, which ties in with and was published alongside the UK government’s … Continue Reading
The regulator is concerned that ESG-related disclosures are not meeting expectations. By Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, Anne Mainwaring, Ella McGinn, and Charlotte Collins The FCA has published a Dear CEO letter sent to benchmark administrators on 20 March 2023, expressing concerns about the quality of their ESG-related disclosures. The FCA’s concerns are based upon a … Continue Reading
The “AIFMD II” proposals continue their progress through the EU legislative process with more detail provided, but in many areas specific criteria will not be known until Level 2 measures are developed. By Nicola Higgs, Jaime O’Connell, Denisa Odendaal, and Dianne Bell On 9 February 2023, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) … Continue Reading
The discussion paper aims to encourage industry-wide dialogue on sustainability related-governance, incentives, and competence. By Anne Mainwaring, Sara Sayma, and Dianne Bell On 10 February 2023, the FCA published DP23/1: Finance for positive sustainable change: governance, incentives and competence in regulated firms. The FCA considers that a firm’s governance, purpose, and culture are central to … Continue Reading
A new Latham & Watkins guide examines the recent increase in whistleblowing and poses self-assessment questions against which firms can benchmark themselves. By David Berman, Andrea Monks, Nell Perks, Nathan H. Seltzer, Becky Critchley, and Charlie Bowden Many sectors, including financial services, have encountered a discernible increase in whistleblows in recent times — a trend … Continue Reading
The Guidance would increase expectations for regulated financial institutions to identify, measure, monitor, and control climate-related financial risks. By Betty M. Huber, Arthur S. Long, Pia Naib, Austin J. Pierce, and Deric Behar For the past few years, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent has prioritized setting the pace in climate … Continue Reading
Latham’s Global Co-Chair of the Financial Institutions Industry Group, Nicola Higgs, sits down with Lucy McNulty, host of the Following the Rules podcast, to discuss how financial services firms should adapt to the constant evolution of ESG requirements. In this podcast interview, host Lucy McNulty talks to Nicola Higgs, Latham’s Global Co-Chair of the Financial … Continue Reading
The guiding principles are similar to related proposals from other banking regulators, but will require further clarification through the comment process. By Nicola Higgs, Betty M. Huber, Arthur S. Long, Pia Naib, Anne Mainwaring, and Deric Behar On December 2, 2022, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) published proposed Principles … Continue Reading
Monitoring the progress of the Financial Services and Markets Bill and regulatory divergence between the UK and the EU will continue as a key theme in 2023. The Financial Services and Markets Bill leaves a significant amount of the essential regulatory detail to be developed later by HM Treasury (through regulations), followed by development of … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority proposes to restrict ESG- and sustainability-related terms in the naming of funds, with an eye on the US and UK fund naming regimes. By Paul Davies, Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, and Dianne Bell On 18 November 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its consultation paper on … Continue Reading
The FCA hopes the proposals will protect consumer trust in ESG-related financial products and help consumers navigate the increasingly complex ESG-related financial market. By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Michael D. Green, James Bee, and Anne Mainwaring On 25 October 2022, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consultation paper (the Consultation Paper) on Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) … Continue Reading
The Financial Services Skills Commission has issued an insight paper outlining how companies can collect and evaluate data on employees’ socioeconomic backgrounds. By David Berman, Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, and Dianne Bell Socioeconomic backgrounds of employees and socioeconomic diversity at senior levels across the UK financial services industry is beginning to feature more prominently in … Continue Reading
The policy change integrates climate change considerations for the first time into the ECB’s quantitative easing and repo facilities. By Roberto Reyes Gaskin, Edward Kempson, and Peter Neuböck On July 4, 2022, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it would integrate climate change considerations into Eurosystem monetary policy through changes to its corporate bond … Continue Reading
The agency will use the information to take further steps to address climate risks in the commodity derivatives markets. By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Yvette Valdez, Douglas Yatter, Joshua Bledsoe, Michael Dreibelbis, Qingyi Pan, and Deric Behar On June 2, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to inform its understanding … Continue Reading
The new rules provide issuers with flexibility to report on representation of women by reference to either gender identity or sex. By Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, Nicola Higgs, David Berman, Rob Moulton, and Johannes Poon On 20 April 2022, the FCA published its final policy decision on the proposals set out in CP … Continue Reading
HM Treasury’s Transition Plan Taskforce aims to influence international standard setting and make the UK the world’s first net zero-aligned financial centre. By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, James Bee, and Dianne Bell On 25 April 2022, HM Treasury (HMT) announced the launch of the UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) … Continue Reading
As the FCA’s remit continues to grow, the regulator pledges flexibility in the face of global financial and geopolitical headwinds. By Rob Moulton, Anne Mainwaring, Jaime O’Connell, and Dianne Bell On 7 April 2022, the FCA released its new Business Plan as part of a package including a three-year strategy document setting out the outcomes … Continue Reading
Proposed changes seek to reflect the integration of sustainability considerations into MiFID II. By Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, Dianne Bell, and Charlotte Collins ESMA is consulting on updates to its Guidelines on the MiFID II suitability requirements, in light of upcoming changes that will embed sustainability considerations into the MiFID II framework. These changes will … Continue Reading
This annual publication outlines some of the primary focus areas in 2022 for UK-regulated financial services firms. There has been a marked shift away from dealing with immediate post-Brexit priorities to more fundamental consideration of the direction of travel of UK financial services regulation, and this is borne out across many of the topics covered … Continue Reading
