Government’s New Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy
The levy will be paid annually and is being collected for the Government by us, HM Revenue and Customs and the Gambling Commission.
It will apply to all AML regulated businesses and is determined by a firm’s UK revenue.
To ensure firms are charged the right amount, all impacted firms must submit their data via a new Reg Report from 1 April 2023. Failure to submit in time could result in a £250 administrative fee.
Impacted firms (those who were subject to the money laundering regulations between 6 April 2022 and 5 April 2023) will see the new levy appear on invoices from July 2023.
Reminder: How you log in to FCA systems has changed
We have introduced multi-factor authentication to strengthen how you log into our systems and to further protect and control access to our data.
You now need to enter a one-time passcode every time you log into:
- Connect
- Reg Data
- Online Invoicing
- Shared Intelligence Service (SIS)
- Electronic Submission System (ESS).
You’ll be prompted to register and turn on multi-factor authentication when you log in.
See our website for more information and resources.
Consumer Duty updates
We have launched our Consumer Duty firm survey, which is being carried out on our behalf by Ipsos Mori.
If you’re selected to complete the survey, we’d urge you to take the time to provide feedback as the results will help us understand how prepared firms are and how we can best support you to embed the Duty effectively.
The results are anonymous and we will not be told what any individual firms say.
We have also published the latest of our Consumer Duty podcasts which looks at information sharing and the 30 April milestone. In the podcast our Head of Competition Policy, Ed Smith, talks about our expectation for manufacturers to complete and share their products and services reviews and the need for firms to work together to deliver good customer outcomes.
Asset Management Supervisory Strategy
The Asset Management portfolio consists of around 1,000 firms managing approximately £11 trillion worth of assets for UK and global clients. This Strategy focuses on key risks in the sector and our supervisory approach to them.
The Strategy states we will be focused on understanding firm’s governance over each of the risks, the senior managers with accountability for the risks, and the management information available within firms that allows its leadership to oversight the risk. That will help us to have assurance that the risk is being monitored and managed.
British Steel Pension Scheme: Tools for firms
The British Steel Pension Scheme redress scheme started on 28 February.
We have published redress scheme tools and supporting material to enable firms to carry out the steps in the scheme rules. This includes:
- The BSPS DBAAT template and instructions.
- Information to support you with ongoing reporting under the scheme; and
- Links to the template letters you must use throughout the scheme.
We will update the website with content relating to the redress calculator when it is available.
SME access to the Financial Ombudsman Service
We have launched a Call for Input (CfI) asking for views on whether the thresholds for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be able to refer complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service remain appropriate.
In 2018 we made rules extending access to the Ombudsman Service for more SMEs but our post-implementation review was delayed due to the potential impact of the pandemic on SME complaints.
We’re starting the review by launching this CfI. Responses will feed into the review, along with our analysis of independent survey data, and data received from partner organisations.
Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision
Evidence has shown that TCSPs can be exploited to allow millions to be laundered through the UK’s financial system.
Our report aims to help legal and accounting professional bodies improve their supervision of their respective sectors, as they play a crucial role in preventing financial crime.
We will continue to work with the wider financial crime community to make sure the findings in this report help deliver a stronger and more consistent standard of TCSP supervision.
Reporting requirements, procedures for data quality and registration of Trade Repositories under UK EMIR
On 24 February 2023 we published a joint FCA/Bank of England Policy Statement, final amendments to Technical Standards, and new rules for Trade Repositories regarding changes to the derivatives reporting framework under UK EMIR.
The final rules aim to align, where appropriate, the UK derivatives reporting framework with international guidance for reporting derivatives issued by CPMI-IOSCO, enhance overall data quality and streamline the registration process for Trade Repositories.
Alongside the Policy Statement and Final Rules we have also published draft Validation Rules and XML schemas to support implementation. These can be found here.
The Policy Statement confirms a UK go-live date of 30 September 2024.
Appointment of executive directors to co-lead Enforcement and Market Oversight
We have appointed Therese Chambers and Steve Smart as joint Executive Directors of Enforcement and Market Oversight.
The appointment of Therese and Steve to co-lead the Enforcement and Market Oversight Division will also support our ongoing transformation to become a more assertive, more adaptive and more innovative regulator.
Our business plan to be published next month will continue our programme of investment in our enforcement and market oversight capabilities as part of an integrated approach.
Authorisations service improvements
We have published our latest operating service metrics for authorisations timelines, which show a significant improvement in several areas.
The latest metrics, cover the period from April to September 2022. We expect to see further improvement and to be substantially meeting the targets by the end of March 2023.
Fast-growing firms multi-firm review
We recently published a multi-firm review that examined the risk of harm from firms that have experienced a period of rapid growth.
It concluded that many of these firms had inadequate risk management /governance arrangements.
Additionally, their assessment of financial resources requirement and wind down plans did not consider the growth in their underlying business.
All firms experiencing/projecting fast growth should look at our publication and consider whether they need to review their risk management processes, governance arrangements, wind down plans and update their assessment of financial resources requirement.
March 2023 QCP
We recently published our Quarterly Consultation Paper, which consults on additional guidance in SUP 16 for completing the Annual Claims Management Report form (CMC001) and minor amendments to the numbering of the fields in the form.
Improvements in ESG benchmarks
Benchmarks, which are also commonly referred to as indices, play a critical role in the outcomes for products firms and markets. They are used to measure the performance of investment funds, track returns, define the asset allocation of passive products and to calculate performance fees.
Benchmarks which pursue specific ESG objectives are an important tool in the transition to a net-zero economy, determining the asset allocation of hundreds of billions of investments.
We published a letter issued to benchmark administrators outlining our concerns with the quality of disclosures in ESG benchmarks highlighting where improvements are needed.
Read our full news story here.
We published a statement announcing that we secured £106,650 from Mohammed Maricar, who was found to have unlawfully advised on investments and unlawfully promoted CFD trading. This money will be paid to customers affected by this advice.
Read our full statement here.
We published an update on the London Metal Exchange’s suspension of its nickel market in April 2022.
The statement discussed ongoing work by the LME to implement changes to its control framework.
The statement also announced we have opened an enforcement investigation into some of the LME’s conduct and systems and controls in place between 1 January 2022 and 8 March 2022.
Read the full statement here.
We have published a press release detailing recent action by us and the Metropolitan Police to enter and inspect several sites in East London suspected of hosting illegally operating crypto ATMs.
Latest Regulatory Initiatives Grid
We have published the latest Regulatory Initiatives Grid. This Grid from the Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum sets out the regulatory pipeline so the financial services industry and other stakeholders can understand – and plan for – the timing of the initiatives that may have a significant operational impact on them.
The latest Grid can be found here.
Primary Market Bulletin 44
- summarised our disclosure expectations and supervisory strategy for the new Diversity and Inclusion rules for listed companies.
-
provided an update on a proposed new Technical Note relating to the requirement to publish a public offer prospectus where securities are issued pursuant to a scheme of arrangement.
- noted the new practice in the market where some PIPs are offering the ability for issuers to include multimedia content, including audio and video content, in regulatory news announcements.
Parliamentary Accountability
Key lines of questioning included internal FCA matters, consumer protection, UK companies moving overseas and the Consumer Duty.
The TSC called on us to conduct a more detailed cost benefit analysis of its proposals on sustainability disclosure requirements – as well as comments on a number of other areas which will respond to.
Transforming Data Collections update – Product Sales Data Returns
One of the key outcomes we set out to achieve in our 2022-23 Business plan is to become a more data-led regulator.
As part of our Transforming Data Collections for firms we are exploring the design of Product Sales Data returns for Consumer Credit agreements, where we will collect data recorded at the agreement level for Sales and Performance of loans.
We are also reviewing our existing Regulatory Returns for Consumer Credit regulated activities. We will be working closely with firms to ensure we are able collect good quality data while minimising the burden placed on firms to provide it.
Referring consumers to MoneyHelpers’ Pension Safeguarding Guidance appointments
When pension providers refer consumers to MoneyHelpers’ Pension Safeguarding Guidance (PSG) appointments, providers need to give the specific referral link (www.moneyhelper.org.uk/pension-safeguarding) enabling the consumer to book online or, if required, obtain the number to book by telephone. A safeguarding session cannot be booked in any other way.
Further guidance from The Pensions Regulator on directing consumers to MoneyHelpers’ PSG appointments can be found here.
Data Provision under the Civil Liability Act 2018
This will enable us to direct the Data Provision Survey to the correct recipients, when it is sent out later this year.
In addition, the ABI will convene a meeting where the reporting/audit requirements set out by the Act and Regulations will be discussed. Details of this meeting will be provided in due course.
Back to the top
|
