BANKING ECB consults on review of SSM supervisory fees

European Central Bank (ECB) published a consultation paper on a review of the ECB regulation on supervisory fees, together with related FAQs. Comments can be made on the consultation paper until 20 July 2017. The ECB also plans to consult national competent authorities (NCAs) via the Supervisory Board and other established fora. The outcome of the review will be published in 2018.

ECB, 2 June 2017

BBA principles to improve access for vulnerable customers and trusted third parties

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) has published principles to improve customer access. The principles have been developed by the BBA's third party access working party to improve customer access under the vulnerability taskforce principle 5 (easy for friends and family to support). The principles relate to legal instruments for third-party access, including guardianship and intervention orders, court of protection orders, and enduring and lasting powers of attorney. There are six principles, together with detailed guidance on what banks should do to comply with each principle. A number of the UK's biggest high street banks and building societies have agreed to implement the principles, most aim to fully implement the principles by May 2018.

BBA, 2 June 2017

INSURANCE BCBS Chair talks about design of optimal deposit insurance system

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has published a speech, given by Stefan Ingves, BCBS Chair, on designing an optimal deposit insurance system. In his speech, Mr Ingves states that while deposit insurance systems are key to financial stability, their design differs vastly across jurisdictions. He considers that although an optimal framework may be difficult to achieve in reality, it is important to identify the endpoint and strive to get as close to it as possible. He considers three key challenges related to developing optimal deposit insurance schemes:

  • The interaction between the deposit insurance scheme and the resolution framework.
  • The relationship between deposit insurance schemes and public guarantees.
  • Issues relating to cross-border banking.

BCBS, 2 June 2017

INVESTMENTS AND FUNDS ESMA's final draft technical standards under Benchmarks Regulation

ESMA has published its final report on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on co-operation arrangements with third countries under the Regulation on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds ((EU) 2016/1011) (Benchmarks Regulation). ESMA has submitted the final draft RTS to the Commission, who has three months to decide whether to endorse the technical standards. The draft Commission Delegated Regulation (set out in section 3 of the report), which contains the final draft RTS, states that it will enter into force 20 days after the date of publication in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ). ESMA, 2 June 2017 ESMA's methodological framework for selection of supervised entities for mandatory contribution to critical benchmark under Benchmarks Regulation

ESMA published a methodological framework on the selection of supervised entities for mandatory contribution under Article 23(7) of the Regulation on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds ESMA, 2 June 2017 ESMA final report on product governance guidelines under MiFID II

ESMA has published its final report on guidelines on product governance requirements under the MiFID II Directive. The guidelines, set out in Annex IV to the final report, aim to promote greater convergence in the implementation and application of the MiFID II requirements on product governance. The guidelines mainly address the target market assessment, as this aspect was identified as the most important for ensuring a consistent application of Articles 16(3) and 24(2) of MiFID II and Articles 9 and 10 of the European Commission Delegated Directive supplementing MiFID II. ESMA, 2 June 2017 ESMA updates Q&As on CSDR: June 2017

ESMA has published an updated version of its Q&As on the Regulation on improving securities settlement and regulating central securities depositories (CSDs) (Regulation 909/2014) (CSDR). In a related press release, ESMA explains that it has updated the Q&As to include new answers relating to:

  • CSDs’ investment policy.
  • Access to CSDs.
  • Conditions relating to provision of services in another member state.

ESMA, 2 June 2017

FCA Market Watch issue 52

The FCA has published issue 52 of Market Watch, its newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues, which focuses on dividend arbitrage. Issue 52 focuses on dividend arbitrage. The FCA explains that the intention of dividend arbitrage is to place shares in alternative tax jurisdictions around dividend dates, with a view to minimising withholding taxes (WHT) or generating WHT reclaims. This may involve several different trading activities, including trading and lending securities and trading derivatives (including futures and total return swaps), designed to hedge movements in the price of the securities over the dividend dates.

FCA, 2 June 2017