PIMFA News Bulletin - 9th April 2020

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PIMFA Weekly News Bulletin - 9th April 2020 We are in this together Dear << Test First Name >>

As we approach the Easter break, I wanted to write to you all in review of what we have achieved in the last couple of weeks and what is to come in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. In such uncertain and anxious times, it has been heartening to see how well our industry is adapting to continue to deliver its services. We have also heard stories about how our member firms are helping to support the national effort. This includes educational content on money management and regional community support. We would love to hear more of your stories â&#x20AC;&#x201C; please let us know by emailing us. These examples are so helpful when it comes to showcasing the profession, the value you add and the difference you make.

I am also writing to thank you for joining us for our new Webinar Wednesday series - this will be a regular slot in the PIMFA event calendar for members only from now on â&#x20AC;&#x201C; alongside many other new webinars. The most recent instalments were held yesterday (8 April) on the latest COVID members-only update from FCA and another was held this morning (9 April) on cyber resilience. I do hope you can join us again after Easter for our next webinars.

Since the launch of our COVID-19 Communications and our COVID-19 resource web

areas (public and members only), we have been inundated with queries and, since the webinar series launch on 25 March, 214 firms and 493 individuals from all over the UK have participated. This has been an important step in ensuring the smooth running of our crucial industry in this uncertain period. The information you provide and the questions you ask are important practical elements in creating a picture of the current landscape which we can share with the regulator and key government departments.

In this vein, the 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 has raised both formally in our letter dated 19 March and informally over the past three weeks or so, in various zoom meetings and over email, regarding the potential impact of coronavirus on member firms and their clients.

Among the concerns we outlined in our letter to Chris Woolard at FCA 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.

Since lockdown, the use and value of technology has undoubtedly come to the fore and is playing an important role in ensuring that, while we remain separate for the good of all around us, we are very much in this together. Technologies such as Zoom, Teams, Skype, Slack - to name but a few - are ensuring that we remain connected at a personal level and are enabling us to continue performing our jobs. The essential services you all provide have never been more important in ensuring the mental and financial wellbeing of our clients. And the good old fashioned phone still plays its part in providing assurance. My team have been working their way around the membership to call you and ask both how you are and how we might help you. If we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been able to speak to you yet, bear with us.

Unfortunately, with its many advantages, the use of technology does come with some challenges as unscrupulous criminals seek to use the outbreak of COVID-19, and the

necessity for many firms to operate remote / home working arrangements, as an opportunity to profit. To help our members address the threat of financial crime, members can access all of our useful guides and our dedicated, members only financial crime section of the website here.

The recording of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cyber Resilience webinar discussing practical, easy-to-adopt strategies to address the threat posed by cyber criminals can be viewed, as can all of our webinars and podcasts, in our learning library.

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 the impact on the market, platform providers or emerging scams, please email Ian Cornwall.

As this crisis continues, PIMFA remains here to do all we can to help support our members firms and your staff. With this in mind, please also look out for our upcoming webinars on wellbeing that will provide practical and insightful tips on how we can support one another in these difficult times. Also, our regular newsletter Bulletin has now been made a more frequent publication to ensure you are up to date with the very latest developments both on COVID-19 and the wider business, policy, regulatory and operational issues affecting you and your firms.

If you have any queries on the matters mentioned here, or if there is anything we can help you with, email us at enquiries@pimfa.co.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you and stay safe

Liz and 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 we outlined 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 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. The next live webinar will be published on the events section of our website after Easter for registration. Members can listen to past FCA update webinars on their dedicated COVID-19 web area. All other freely accessible webinars can be found on our learning library.

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.

COVID-19 Information Web Areas We have launched both public and members only web areas that provide the latest information on COVID-19. For members only, they can visit their web area to access webinar recordings, meeting notes, latest global response tracker, latest health statistics, updates from the CBI and much more.

The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) statement on COVID 19 and illicit financing The FATF has published a statement in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, urging firms to remain vigilant to COVID 19 related financial crime risks. It highlighted an increase in financial fraud and exploitation scams targeting innocent victims and vulnerable individuals as well as criminal exploitation of any weaknesses in firmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; AML/CTF systems and controls. FATF also indicated that it encourages the use of technology in the current climate for client onboarding and screening purposes and referred firms to its recently released Guidance on Digital ID, which highlights the benefits of trustworthy digital identity for improving the security, privacy and convenience of identifying people remotely. In the current climate, it is of paramount importance that firms continue to keep financial crime as a priority.

You can read the full FATF statement here.

BREXIT Update 1: The Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee In a letter to Hilary Benn, chair of the House of Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, dated 31 March and released on 7 April, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove explained how the UK government intends to report to Parliament on the talks in the Joint Committee on implementing the Withdrawal Agreement. Gove said that he would submit a written ministerial statement ahead of, and following, each meeting, outlining the decisions taken by the committee. While parliament is in recess, he would write to Hilary Benn and the chair of the House of Lords EU committee instead. He added that, at this stage, it is not possible to provide parliament with a timetable of meetings during the transition period as this has not been agreed.

Gove also confirmed that the Government and Civil Service are working hard to ensure the UK is well prepared for the end of the transition period.

For further information, please contact Maja Erceg.

Brexit Update 2: Negotiations Following a series of informal and largely technical discussions between negotiating leads this and last week, David Frost, UK Chief Negotiator and Michel Barnier, the EU Chief

Negotiator, are due to speak next week to agree on holding a few negotiating rounds via video conference ahead of June. The two sides have exchanged their draft proposals for the future UK-EU Free Trade Agreement and are in the process of posing questions about their respective FTA texts. EU Member States have not been granted access to the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s draft FTA, at the demand of the UK. While rumours that an extension to the transition period is possible have been circulating behind the scenes, there has been no formal indication from either side. The decision to seek an extension will need to be made at highest political level: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains strongly opposed to the idea and is determined to maintain the current timeline. The next negotiating round is scheduled for 20 April.

For further information, please contact Maja Erceg.

Keeping Savers Safe As part of PIMFA's Financial and Mental Wellbeing campaign we are launching an initiative to keep savers safe from scams. The initiative will provide consumers with information on how to spot and avoid scams as well as warning about the latest scams that we know about, among a whole host of other information.

With the National Crime Agency, City of London Police and other agencies all reporting a spike in fraud and cybercrime during the current Coronavirus pandemic, it is essential that information as to the type and frequency of attacks gets to them quickly. Whether they are attacks your business has experienced directly, or scams that clients contact you about, we can collate the information you give and speedily inform the authorities and the public on your behalf.

If you, or anyone you are aware of, have been targeted by a scam, please let us know by contacting enquiries@pimfa.co.uk.

Sustainable Finance The European Commission yesterday published its consultation on the renewed Sustainable Finance strategy. Building on the 2018 Action Plan on financing sustainable growth, the renewed sustainable finance strategy will provide a roadmap with new actions to increase private investment in sustainable projects and activities to support the different

actions set out in the European Green Deal and to manage and integrate climate and environmental risks into our financial system. The initiative will also provide additional enabling frameworks for the European Green Deal Investment Plan. The aim of this public consultation is to collect the views and opinions of interested parties in order to inform the Commission's renewed strategy on sustainable. The deadline for feedback is 15 July.

For further information, please email Des FitzGerald.

UN Climate Change conference postponed 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 discussed practical, easy-to-adopt

strategies to address the threat posed by cyber criminals in our webinar on 9 April. You can login to our learning library and access the webinar here.

Latest PIMFA Press Releases PIMFA to provide consumer advice on how to avoid scams as part of Financial and Mental Wellbeing campaign PIMFA launches first ever Virtual Festival in June PIMFA welcomes FCA regulatory forbearance in wake of coronavirus outbreak

Read all of PIMFA's Press Releases

What's coming up in PIMFA? PIMFA Events & COVID-19 Due to the outbreak if COVID-19 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.

PIMFA Virtual Fest We are delighted to announce the launch of Virtual Fest. A live, 2 day online learning experience covering Compliance, Cyber, ESG & Operational Resilience.

Virtual Fest will take place on 3-4 June and registration will open soon!

We remain dedicated to supporting your continued professional development during this period of isolation. Virtual Fest will provide access to a variety of content in the forms of

webinars, virtual sessions with speakers & trainers, videos, PDFs and online resources.

Upcoming PIMFA Webinar COVID-19: The acid test of your firms approach to wellbeing and resilience Thursday 23rd April: FREE webinar COVID-19 has raised an unprecedented number of issues for HR professionals, business leaders and managers grappling to maintain the wellbeing and resilience of their remote workforce.

In this FREE 60-minute webinar we share practical strategies and approaches that firms are taking during the coronavirus outbreak to assess and monitor stress levels of your staff and increase the resilience of your people.

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:

â&#x20AC;˘

22nd April Evidencing Suitability for wealth managers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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 FCA sets out priorities for 2020/21

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out its business priorities for the year ahead – with specific focus on the challenges presented by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In responding to the challenge of coronavirus the FCA will focus on ensuring that financial services businesses give people the support they need, that people avoid scams, and that financial services businesses and markets know what we expect of them.

Alongside HM Treasury and the Bank of England, the FCA has already made a series of interventions at unprecedented speed to protect consumers, firms and the markets.

These have ensured that customers retain access to essential banking services and are able to benefit from flexibility on mortgage and other debt payments.

For more detail, please click here.

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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.

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