PIMFA Weekly News Bulletin - 7 August 2023

PIMFA

WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN

7 August 2023

HMT published a consultation on cold calling for consumer financial services and products

On 2 August 2023 the Treasury published a consultation on banning cold calling for all consumer financial services and products, as announced in the Fraud Strategy in May 2023.

This would extend the pension cold calling ban and aims to block fraud attempts before they can cause harm. PIMFA is intending to provide an overall positive response while seeking clarity on how the ban will be articulated, in particular concerning calls to existing clients regarding different services or products and electronic communications.

The closing date for responses is 27 September 2023. If you have any views or evidence on how a ban on the use of cold calls to promote and/or sell financial products would impact your business and/or customers, please contact MariaF@pimfa.co.uk

PIMFA CASS Working Group - next meeting - Thursday 10 August 11:3013:00 via Teams

PwC have kindly agreed to present the findings from their recent cycle of CASS audits at an MS Teams meeting on 10 August.

Their feedback could provide valuable input to your preparations for the next cycle of CASS audits.

If you would like to join the CASS Working Group and attend this virtual meeting, please email KevinS@pimfa.co.uk

Also, if you have any CASS-related questions that you would like the working group to consider, please email them to KevinS@pimfa.co.uk

Meeting to review

In response to a recommendation in Mark Austin's Secondary Capital Raising Review, the Digitisation Taskforce was established in July 2022 with the objective of driving forward the full digitisation of the UK shareholding framework by eliminating the use of paper share certificates, and seeking to improve the UK’s intermediated system of share ownership.

The Digitalisation Taskforce has recently published its interim report. In this report, the Taskforce is proposing a series of 'potential recommendations', and they have invited comments from the industry and stakeholders by 25 September.

We are planning a virtual meeting to review this report and recommendations, and would really value your input to our response.

The first virtual meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 15 August at 2pm - if you would like to attend, please email KevinS@pimfa.co.uk

FCA Advice Guidance Boundary Review

The FCA has provided an update on its ongoing Advice Guidance Boundary Review

In the first instance, the FCA has published further guidance for firms on how they can support consumers better without providing a personal recommendation. We are particularly pleased to see this from the FCA as we have been asking for further guidance to support firms who do not wish to operate under advice permissions.

Additionally, the FCA have provided an update on its ongoing work on the core investment/simplified advice regime. As expected the FCA have decided to roll this into the wider advice guidance review as it assesses ways consumers can be supported to make financial decisions with differing needs. We support this decision and believe that it can be (provided changes are made) a useful tool in providing lower value clients with a recommendation to act without having to persist with suitability as it is currently constructed.

We expect a discussion paper on further measures to be published in the Autumn. Firms who are especially interested in this area should contact Simon Harrington for further information.

Joint Money Laundering Steering Group Consultation paper: Cryptoassets Transfers

The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) has published a consultation paper (CP) with proposed amendments on cryptoasset providers and custodian wallet providers in Part II Guidance.

The proposed addition of Annex I to Sector 22 is to reflect amendments relating to cryptoasset transfers (The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022) regarding implementation of the 'travel rule' under Part 7A of the MLRs, for cryptoasset transfers in the UK that requires effective procedures to be in place to detect money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. The deadline for providing feedback is 25 August 2023.

Joint Money Laundering Steering Group: Revision to Part I Guidance

The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group announced a revision to Part 1 Paragraph 5.3.89 of its guidance which has been submitted to HM Treasury for approval (1 August 2023).

Part 1 Paragraphs 5.3.85 to 5.3.91 cover customer due diligence and mitigation of impersonation risk by applying additional verification checks.

UK Sustainability Disclosure Standards Guidance

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has issued guidance on the UK government’s framework to create UK Sustainability Disclosure Standards (UK SDS) by assessing and endorsing the global corporate reporting baseline of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

Once endorsed the UK SDS may be referenced in any legal or regulatory requirements for UK entities.

To assist with assessment and endorsement of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the UK government has established 2 committees:

The UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will assess IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards on a technical basis and provide independent recommendations on endorsement. The chair and membership (from a range of relevant professional backgrounds) will be appointed shortly.

The UK Sustainability Disclosure Policy and Implementation Committee (PIC) will provide analysis of the interactions between IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and existing UK legislation and regulation. PIC’s members (formed of UK government departments and regulators) will provide advice on endorsement decisions and coordinate the implementation of UK SDS by Government and FCA.

Financial Reporting Council: Call for Evidence on the adoption of new IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards

The Financial Reporting Council (in its role as Secretariat to the UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee) has issued a call for evidence on the proposed adoption of the new IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards Responses will inform the technical assessment for endorsing IFRS S1 and S2 in the UK.

UK Transition Plan Taskforce Status Update

The UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) has published a status update, noting the intention of releasing the final version of its proposed climate transition plan disclosure framework in October 2023. The update also covers:

• The TPT’s response to its November 2022 consultation

• Recent UK and global developments in transition plan disclosure obligations

Industry views are sought from those preparing corporate disclosures, investors, and other stakeholders with an interest in sustainability reporting by 11 October 2023

• A timeline of key TPT publications

The TPT is committed to ensuring alignment with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD) recommendations and the International Sustainability Standard Board’s (ISSB) first two sets of sustainability standards.

Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) expectations of businesses

FOS are sending a letter to larger firms and representatives outlining their expectations when it comes to working with them.

The letter gives an update on the work FOS are doing to improve their service so that they can help more customers more quickly, and their priorities in doing so. It also sets out how firms’ behaviour can impact on this, and how they can work with FOS to resolve disputes quickly and effectively. FOS want to ensure that they and firms have a clear shared understanding of their expectations as to how firms should work with them going forward.

FOS will also be writing to claims management companies and professional representatives to set out their expectations of them in making complaints to FOS. FOS will publish the letters on their website in the coming days.

Click here for the letter.

BoE/FCA joint response: Transforming data collection

The Bank of England (BoE) and FCA have published a joint response to Data Standards Recommendations from the Joint Transformation Programme in which they accept most of the Data Standards Committee’s recommendations (to advance the use of common data standards for the purposes of regulatory reporting), such as:

• defining the roles of the authorities in data standards

• agreeing a taxonomy of financial services data standards to support ongoing recognition of their usage and development requirements

• agreeing a standard set of metrics associated with the use of data standards to support ongoing benefits identification and prioritisation of effort required to iterate and develop

• creating and publishing the roadmap for strategic implementation of financial services data standards and an associated programme with budget to deliver.

Following consideration of funding and resource requirements the BoE and the FCA will provide an update on the scope and timelines in Q1 2024.

Mitigo Cyber Q&A: The Importance of Independent Assurance

In this 8-minute Q&A, Mitigo’s Lindsay Hill and Kerrie Machin discuss why you must get independent assurance to tackle your cyber risk and enable you to sleep at night.

Listen here

The PIMFA Indices Committee met in July and agreed changes to the portfolio weights of the MSCI PIMFA Index Series’. These changes will apply from Friday 1st September 2023 and will be updated on the current asset allocation pages at 5pm the day before.

To view the agreed asset allocation changes for the MSCI PIMFA Private Investor Index Series, click here.

To view the agreed asset allocation changes for the MSCI PIMFA Equity Risk Index Series, click here

As part of the Transformation Programme, the FCA will be releasing a new Form A in the coming months. The aim is to make it easier and quicker to apply for authorisation. Changes will be made to other application forms once the work on Form A is complete.

To find out more information you can access the FCA’s webpage here

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21 September | 09:00 - 17:00

PIMFA COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE

Hear from leading industry experts on the key issues facing compliance professionals in the investment management and financial advice world.

Bringing together a high-level audience who can engage with the experts, this conference will facilitate fruitful discussions with opportunity for questions and networking.

7 September | 11:00 - 12:00

PIMFA WEBINAR: HOW PIMFA FIRMS CAN SUCCESSFULLY TAKE THE WORRY, FRUSTRATION AND STRESS OUT OF THEIR CASS AUDIT SESSION 2

In this FREE 60-minute webinar former regulator and co-creator of The PIMFA CASS Academy Katharine Leaman dispels the myths that surround a successful CASS Audit and withstand scrutiny from regulators, auditors and senior managers.

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