PIMFA News Bulletin - 3rd April 2020

PIMFA - Building personal financial futures

View this email in your browser.

PIMFA News Bulletin - 3rd April 2020: Now Weekly

We are in this together Dear Nigel

We hope you are well and are keeping safe during this challenging time.

In light of recent developments with the COVID-19 outbreak the physical PIMFA office is now closed but all work continues as normal with our staff working remotely. We remain committed to delivering as much information as possible to our members. As such, we will now be making the PIMFA Bulletin weekly instead of fortnightly, in order to deliver the very latest news on the impact of COVID-19 and other key issues that affect you and your business, alongside current affairs from within PIMFA and the industry.

As we all navigate through these uncertain times, PIMFA remain here for all our members and are continuing to operate on your behalf and represent your interests.

If you have any issues, or if there is anything we can be of assistance with, please do not hesitate to contact us at enquiries@pimfa.co.uk and we will direct your query

to the person best able to help you.

Best wishes

The Team at PIMFA

What is PIMFA working on?

COVID-19 FCA 'Dear CEO' letter to firms providing services to retail investors about coronavirus (COVID-19) FCA's Dear CEO letter was published on 31 March and we have circulated this to member firms. The content of the letter is helpful and addresses a number of issues PIMFA have raised both formally and informally over the past two weeks regarding the potential impact of coronavirus on member firms and their clients.

Among the concerns outlined by PIMFA Chief Executive Liz Field, was the need for guidance and clarification for firms on how they should engage with the regulator in this period of uncertainty. In response, the FCA has written to all firms outlining temporary changes within the regulatory framework in light of the current crisis.

These changes include greater flexibility over client identification verification; supervisory flexibility over best execution until the end of June; supervisory flexibility over 10% depreciation notifications until the end of September and a pause on the implementation of investment pathways and other measures.

COVID-19: PIMFA Weekly Meetings with FCA & Webinar Wednesday

PIMFA are holding weekly meetings with FCA each Wednesday to provide feedback from firms on issues arising relating to COVID 19, and also to get feedback from FCA. The outcome of these meetings are discussed live every week in PIMFA’s ‘Webinar Wednesday’ – available to members only. Members can register for the next webinar here.

We are logging all issues we raise with FCA and if you have any issues regarding the impact of the Coronavirus on your business or clients, or other intelligence about impact on the market, platform providers or emerging scams, please email Ian Cornwall.

Useful links Members may find the following pieces of information useful in relation to COVID19: •

COVID-19 Updates from PIMFA FCA information for firms on Coronavirus (Covid-19) response

•

FCA - Coronavirus (COVID-19): support for consumers

•

FCA - Key workers in financial services

•

FCA’s expectations on financial resilience for FCA solo-regulated firms [addressing issues around firms meeting their capital requirements obligations]

•

Joint statement by the FCA, FRC and PRA [addressing issues regarding the auditing of accounts]

•

Dear CEO Letter to firms providing services to retail investors about coronavirus (COVID-19)

•

ESMA - COVID-19: Clarification of issues related to the application of MiFID II requirements on the recording of telephone conversations

•

London Stock Exchange – Update for market participants

BREXIT Update: The Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee

The Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee met for the first time on 30 March. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the meeting took place by teleconference. The meeting was co-chaired by the UK Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, and EU Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič. The UK and EU updated the Joint Committee on progress to implement the Withdrawal Agreement and agreed to start the work of the six Specialised Committees on citizens’ rights; other separation provisions; Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; Protocol relating to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; Protocol on Gibraltar; and financial provisions. The UK and EU co-chairs welcomed the collaborative and constructive conversation, despite circumstances preventing a meeting in person.

For further information, please contact Maja Erceg.

Lords EU Financial Affairs subcommittee calls for close EU-UK cooperation The House of Lords EU Financial Affairs Subcommittee wrote to Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer on 27 March, calling for a structured dialogue on financial services. The letter comes as part of the Committee’s review of financial services after Brexit, and underlines the need for a stable EU-UK relationship, in particular with reference to the potential politicisation of equivalence decisions. The Committee says that Brexit will provide an opportunity for the Government to delegate more powers to financial regulators and increase the UK’s regulatory regime flexibility and ability to respond to changes. The Committee also underlines that this will require increased parliamentary oversight of the financial regulators’ activities.

The Pension Regulator (TPR) announces pension transfer freeze As part of its response to the ongoing COVID -19 crisis, TPR has announced a 3month freeze on pension transfers whilst also providing for a brief hiatus for employers and trustees in funding scheme contributions.

Please contact Simon Harrington should you have further questions.

Dormant Assets consultation In February, HM Treasury and DDCMS issued a consultation on extending the dormant assets scheme beyond banks and building societies to cover a wider range of financial services firms. In light of COVID-19, the original consultation deadline has now been extended by three months to 16 July 2020. PIMFA will produce a draft response to the paper, for member feedback, over the next couple of weeks.

Sustainable Finance In early March, the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) presented its final reports to the Commission on the Green Taxonomy and Green Bond Standard. Over more than 700 pages, they set out details on considering local context for climate projects, some adaptation activities and how to incorporate the Do No Significant Harm principle. It also advised the Commission that it should broaden the scope of its taxonomy over time and add socially-beneficial business activities, not just climate-aligned ones, and begin to define activities that undermine the Paris Agreement (brown taxonomy) but it also suggested a ‘red taxonomy’ which could apply to hazardous activities.

There is no update from ESMA on when it may release more technical standards for disclosure rules, or from The European Commission about the public consultation it was planning to launch on the next version of its Action Plan on Sustainable Finance (the Renewed Strategy) where it would ask stakeholders for feedback on how to further foster ESG and long-termism into finance and investment. The strategy is being launched at the end of the Summer.

MiFID II Review Deadline Extended PIMFA requested and received clarification from The European Commission that the deadline for responding to the MiFID II/ MiFIR review consultation has been extended to 18 May 2020. PIMFA will respond to the consultation and will seek firms’ input through the usual committee process.

SM&CR - Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) If an individual has not completed 35 hours of Retail Distribution Review (RDR)relevant Continuous Personal Development (CPD) and they are applying for their first SPS with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) or any other accredited body, their firm may choose to opt out of meeting the requirement for their first SPS.

However, if an individual is renewing their SPS with the CISI, or have held an SPS with another accredited body previously, they must complete 35 hours of RDRrelevant CPD prior to renewing their SPS.

With any queries, please contact Des FitzGerald.

Climate Change The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has confirmed that the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, has been postponed owing to the global ‘lockdown’ in response to coronavirus. It was expected that this summit, due to be held in Scotland in November, would involve the finance sector more than in previous years. Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England and now the UN Climate Envoy, had already engaged with institutional investors through a ‘private finance strategy’ event in February.

Making COP26 a success provides the UK with a huge opportunity to take a lead in the fight against climate change and the government could use the postponement to fix issues regarding the COP Presidency and appoint a proven political heavyweight (possibly a former head of government) with the time and diplomatic experience to fully focus on delivering on the agenda.

For more insight, please email Des FitzGerald.

Cybersecurity whilst working remotely

Due to COVID-19 many firms are now operating remote / home working arrangements and this can dramatically increase exposure to cyber attacks, sometimes with serious consequences.

To help our members address this Mitigo have written a free guide on staying cybersecure and reducing your exposure to risk whilst working remotely.

In addition Beyond Encryption, AXELOS & RESILIA will be discussing practical, easy-to-adopt strategies to address the threat posed by cyber criminals in our webinar on 9 April. The webinar is free to attend and you can register here.

Latest PIMFA Press Releases PIMFA launches first ever Virtual Festival in June PIMFA welcomes FCA regulatory forbearance in wake of coronavirus outbreak PIMFA announces organisational changes within policy team Tim Fassam joins PIMFA as Director of Government Relations and Policy PIMFA to hold weekly meetings with FCA in wake of coronavirus outbreak PIMFA on the future of UK supervision – ‘is the FCA fit for purpose?

PIMFA Welcomes IRSG Report on ‘Architecture for Regulating Finance after Brexit’

Read all of PIMFA's Press Releases

Latest PIMFA Consultation Response PIMFA's response to the FCA's Call for Input on Open Finance Following consideration and consultation with our members, PIMFA outline their concerns about open finance - read the full paper here.

What's coming up in PIMFA?

PIMFA Events & COVID-19 Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, it is with regret that we have decided to postpone all events until further notice. Workshops will still be taking place online via Zoom or may be postponed.The decision has not been taken lightly; however, safeguarding the health and wellbeing of our attendees must take precedence.

Webinars and podcasts will be continuing and will be delivering content online in the coming weeks. We will be updating the website regularly and scheduling new dates.

If you have any queries, please contact us at events@pimfa.co.uk.

Virtual Fest - Save the Date We are delighted to announce the launch of Virtual Fest; a live, 2 day online learning experience covering topics such as Compliance, Cybersecurity, ESG, Operational Resilience and more.

We remain dedicated to supporting your continued professional development during this period of isolation and the festival will provide access to a variety of content in the forms of webinars, virtual sessions with speakers & trainers, videos, PDFs and online resources.

The PIMFA Virtual Fest will take place on 3-4 June so please save the date.

Registration opens soon!

Webinar Wednesday: FCA Update PIMFA are hosting a weekly webinar throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to provide you with the latest information from the FCA. We have arranged weekly meetings with the regulator each Wednesday to discuss issues arising from the Coronavirus.

In this live, 30 minute webinar, Ian Cornwall will provide a briefing on the issues we have raised with the FCA and the feedback they have given. We will also be

sending a short feedback note to all members after the webinar.

Members can register for free here.

Upcoming PIMFA Webinar Your cyber resilience: What every PIMFA member firm needs to know during the Coronavirus crisis Join us on 9 April In this FREE 60 minute webinar Paul Holland, CEO of Beyond Encryption and Nick Wilding, General Manager of Cyber Resilience at AXELOS Global Best Practice and Head of RESILIA will share with PIMFA members practical, easy-to-adopt strategies to address the threat posed by cyber criminals and thereby meet their regulatory obligation.

Key discussion points will focus on: •

Examples of the new vulnerabilities in the new home working environment

•

The simple, practical measures we need our employees to adopt

•

The power of resilience through a strong human firewall and secure messaging

•

How PIMFA can help your organisation during this unprecedented period

Sign Up

PIMFA Upcoming Live Online Learning In the current crisis we recognise that members want us to deliver mission-critical training for their staff, wherever they are located. To that end, PIMFA has launched Learn Live, an initiative that broadcasts live learning sessions to you via your PC or laptop at a set date and time. This is not death by PowerPoint; it is an engaging learning experience through which you can engage with the speaker and other delegates through interactive features including polls, chat boxes and break-out

exercises. To ensure you receive maximum value from the Learn Live session we have limited online classes to 13 participants.

Join us on our upcoming Learn Live sessions; these include:

•

22nd April Evidencing Suitability for wealth managers – why are many firms still

not meeting the regulators expectations (limited places available) •

6th May Getting DB Pensions right

•

28th May ’Best Practices in Business Continuity: How your firm can continue

operating and responding proactively to disruptive events’ •

10th June ‘Building Operational Resilience in Wealth Management Firms’

•

29th June ’COVID-19: How to review and update your approach to vulnerable

clients’

For more information, please contact Philip Allen.

The PIMFA Learning Library Check out the latest PIMFA podcasts and webinars on Vulnerability, Transaction Reporting and SM&CR by clicking on the PIMFA Library here.

What's happening in our industry Latest from the FCA COVID-19: savers stay calm and don't rush financial decisions The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), supported by The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), say fears over the impact of the pandemic on markets and personal finances may make savers more vulnerable to scams or making a decision that could damage their long-term interests.

They are urging savers to take their time and visit the Pensions Advisory Service website for free plain English pensions guidance before making any decisions

about their retirement savings. And to go to the ScamSmart website to learn how to protect themselves from pensions scams. This includes people already retired who are thinking again about their options.

The coronavirus outbreak has impacted on all kinds of companies, including those listed on the stock market. As a result, markets have been volatile and are likely to remain so for a while. This can have an impact on pensions, leading to additional worry for savers. It can lead to an increase in scams, as unscrupulous people try to take advantage of the situation.

Throughout this period, TPR, the FCA, MaPS and government departments will be working together to tackle any additional risks arising from the current uncertainty.

For more detail, please click here.

Latest Industry Events COVID-19 UPDATE: LIVE BROADCAST OF THE MONEY MARKETING AWARDS Due to the COVID-19 situation, Money Marketing have taken the decision to cancel the live event element of this year’s Money Marketing Awards, which were due to take place on 24 June. However, to recognise the amazing work the advice profession does day in, day out for clients all elements of the adjudication process, involving over 50 industry judges, are continuing unabated, albeit conducted remotely.

During the summer, instead of the formality of a set-piece ceremony, they will be announcing winners live in a special broadcast from Money Marketing TV, which can also be followed live on social media. Later in the year they will then host a special drinks reception for all the shortlist and advice firm winners. This will be free to attend for advisers, and provide an opportunity for the community to catch up with old friends and make some new ones too. Further details will follow.

View all the latest industry events on our website here If your firm has an event which you would like to post on this area, please click here to submit it.

pimfa.co.uk

Follow Us

Unsubscribe | Manage Profile | Terms and Conditions

PIMFA 22 City Road, Finsbury Square, London ECIY 2AJ www.pimfa.co.uk +44 (0) 20 7448 7100