PIMFA Weekly News Bulletin 26 February 2024

Featured: MSCI PIMFA Index Series’ – New asset allocations effective on 1 March 26 February 2024

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PIMFA WEEKLY BULLETIN PRESS RELEASES

ABOUT PIMFA

CONSUMER DUTY

MSCI PIMFA Index Series’ – New asset allocations effective on 01.03.2024 The PIMFA Indices Committee met earlier this month and agreed changes to the portfolio weights of the MSCI PIMFA Index Series’. These changes will become effective Friday 1st March 2024.

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To view the decisions taken for the MSCI PIMFA Private Investor Index Series, click here.

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To view the decisions taken for the MSCI PIMFA Equity Risk Index Series, click here.

Note: the respective Current Asset Allocations pages will be updated after 6pm on Thursday 29 February.

WEALTHTECH

The symposium is FREE to attend for PIMFA members and associate members and solely funded by our wonderful sponsors, and we encourage individuals at all stages of their career, from Chief Executives to Interns, to join us for two days of motivational talks, regulatory updates, industry panels, personal development roundtables and thought-provoking content related to our industry, and to career development.

The event is open to all! Women and men welcome.

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER

PIMFA Operations Forums The next Operations Forum will take place online on Thursday, 29 February from 3pm to 4pm.

The agenda includes: •

CREST update – latest news from Euroclear - Charlie Pugh / Glenn Cooper, Euroclear

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Regulatory update – Alex Roberts, Head of Regulatory Policy and Compliance, PIMFA

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PIMFA Learning update - forthcoming Academy and training courses – Philip Allen, Head of Learning, PIMFA

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Retail Capital Markets and ‘Rex’ – Kit Atkinson, Head of RCM, Peel Hunt

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AOB

March PIMFA Operations Forum – Thursday 28 March 15:00 – 16:00 The PIMFA Forums are open to representatives from all PIMFA Members and Associate firms.

If you or any of your colleagues would like to attend the Operations Forum and are not currently on our distribution list, please email Heidi Bryant.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PIMFA REGULATORY FORUM, DUE TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY 27 FEBRUARY, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

PIMFA Tax Group meeting - Thursday 29 February 10:00 - 11:30 on MS Teams The next PIMFA Tax Group meeting will take place on Teams on 29 February, starting at 10:00.

Iona Martin, Head of Private Banking Tax, and Nacera Beniken, Tax Lawyer, from KPMG have kindly agreed to present updates on the latest operational tax changes and on EU Financial Transaction Taxes.

If you would like to attend the meeting, please contact Kevin Sloane.

Financial Crime: HM Government publishes UK Sanctions Strategy HM Government has published its first sanctions strategy: Deter, disrupt and demonstrate – UK sanctions in a contested world.

The publication sets out the Government’s approach to using sanctions as a foreign and security policy tool, and notes the continued investment, partnerships and structures that support UK sanctions.

Access the UK Sanctions Strategy here.

Read the Ministerial statement here.

Financial Conduct Authority: What firms are doing well and what they could do better The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published observations on Consumer Duty implementation, building on their review of firms’ implementation plans and their fair value frameworks and previous communications.

The FCA: •

reminds firms of the consumer outcomes required by the Duty

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sets out recent good practice, including response to our early supervisory work, to deliver these outcomes

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highlights areas for improvement where firms have more to do

Firms should consider the report and make improvements in line with good practice and address any gaps that are identified. The findings may be useful for firms when considering actions required to meet the 31 July 2024 implementation deadline for closed products and services.

Specific areas of focus in the publication include: •

Culture, governance and monitoring

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Consumers in vulnerable circumstances

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The four outcomes (products and services, price and value, consumer understanding, consumer support)

Access the full publication here.

A summary is available for members on our microsite here.

FCA publishes speech on the Consumer Duty – The art of the possible in a year Sheldon Mills, FCA Executive Director of Consumers and Competition delivered a speech six months on from the Consumer Duty coming into force, identifying both challenges and the progress made by firms in ensuring they offer the right products and services to the right customers.

Key messages •

Firms need to be proactive in addressing any issues identified instead of waiting for the FCA intervene.

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Board reports will come under greater scrutiny as the FCA expects firms to evidence they are driving good outcomes, assessing which products or services are likely to cause the most harm and determining where the most work is needed.

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Data is key and firms should not assume they can repackage existing information.

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The Duty should be embedded across every firm at every level, with leadership from boards.

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To meet the 31 July 2024 deadline for closed products (and all products being in scope of the Duty) firms need to have a clear roadmap, applying lessons learnt from the first implementation deadline and ensuring any gaps on open products are filled.

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Where firms are considering withdrawing closed products, they must consider the impact on consumer outcomes and ensure foreseeable harm Is not caused.

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The speech outlines those sectors that the FCA expects will be most impacted by the closed products and services deadline: life insurance, funeral plans, consumer investments, consumer finance and retail banking.

Read the full speech here.

FCA Ipsos UK small firm survey Autumn 2023 findings

The FCA have published the Autumn 2023 findings of their Ipsos UK small firm survey. This provides a snapshot of where surveyed firms are with their implementation – the publication notes some improvement and positive trends.

PRESS RELEASES

PRESS COVERAGE

PIMFA announces the launch of its inaugural Women’s Symposium

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Sustainability Disclosure Requirements

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improving financial advice to

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consumers

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PIMFA LEARNING

28 February 2024

14 March 2024

Live Event | 10:00 - 18:00

Live Online Learning | 09:30 - 12:30

£200 - £600

£400 - £500

PIMFA CONSUMER DUTY CONFERENCE

REPUTATION, RESILIENCE AND RISK:

2024

ARE YOU GETTING IT RIGHT?

The Consumer Duty is one of the most

Offer: Bring your colleague along for free Be under no illusion - how your firm prepares, adapts to, withstands and recovers from disruptions and unexpected events is of great interest to the FCA in 2024. Last year’s enforcement fines penalising individuals and firms in connection with their outsourcing and cybersecurity arrangements grab the headlines but remind PIMFA member firms of the importance of strengthening their operational resilience framework to avoid, in the new

significant regulatory initiatives in recent years with the FCA considering it a major step change for financial services, requiring firms to make lasting changes to culture and behaviour to consistently deliver good outcomes.

The conference will look into how firms have reviewed their product suite, communications and end-to-end customer journey, and how changes have been made in areas such as

governance, MI and reporting, product design, pricing, distribution, servicing and staff training.

Register to hear from key industry experts on the key themes of consumer duty. We welcomed a high-level audience who engaged with the experts, to facilitate fruitful discussions with opportunity for questions and networking.

REGISTER HERE

‘Consumer Duty’ environment, causing client harm.

In this three-hour interactive masterclass with Operational Resilience expert Richard Preece, you and your colleagues will roll their sleeves up and learn how to analyse, test, and strengthen operational resilience across your firm. You will make meaningful inroads into bringing your most important business services within their defined impact tolerances by the FCA’s deadline of 1st March 2025.

Reserve your place TODAY and at no additional cost bring a colleague along for FREE. Register here using coupon BOGOFRES2024 at checkout for 50% OFF two tickets.

REGISTER HERE

Please note that responses to this email address are not monitored. If you wish to get in contact, please email info@pimfa.co.uk.

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