Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 12 2023

Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 12 | 2023 3 QUICK LINKS AIFMD BENCHMARK REGULATION CBDC COSTS & CHARGES CRYPTOASSETS FUND LIQUIDITY LIBOR TRANSITION MiCA OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE UK PRIIPs SUSTAINABLEFINANCE/ESG ASIA EUROPE IRELAND NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM IMF CBDC Virtual Handbook On 13 November 2023 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) launched a reference guide for policymakers and experts at central banks and ministries of finance. It also serves as the basis for the IMF’s engagement with country authorities and other stakeholders. The CBDC Virtual Handbook aims to collect and share knowledge, lessons, empirical findings, and frameworks to address policymakers’ most frequently asked questions on CBDCs. As the body of knowledge and analysis grows, the IMF will continue to add about five chapters every year aiming to provide about twenty chapters by 2026. Moreover, chapters will be periodically updated, reflecting evolving views. The first published chapters cover: • Framework to explore CBDC; • CBDC product development; • Monetary policy transmission; • Capital flowmanagement; and • Financial inclusion. Link to the Virtual Handbook here COSTS & CHARGES Statement on Communications in Relation to PRIIPs and UCITS On 30 November 2023 the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a Statement relating to concerns raised about costs and charges disclosure in the PRIIPs Key Information Document (KID), the UCITS Key Investor Information Document (KIID) and MiFID II requirements. The Statement sets out the FCA’s interimmeasure, pending broader reform to be made possible through future legislative change, to provide for some disaggregation of costs and charges disclosure. These actions should give investment companies greater ability to explain their costs and charges to help consumers make better informed investment decisions. Currently, there are several requirements in place, deriving from retained European legislation, that impose specific cost disclosures on investment products and their managers/distributors and restrictions on the extent to which additional information can be included. Those that sit in retained EU law (REUL) are the PRIIPS KID, UCITS KIID and MiFID II. As set out above, the current cost disclosure requirements are set out in REUL. This limits the FCA’s ability to disapply the current rules or make changes until the relevant requirements are transferred to it through legislation. However, the FCA says it wants to ensure the best possible transparency to consumers within that context and take account of the concerns raised. Work on longer-term reforms is underway. Until that longer-termwork has been finalised, where listed closed ended funds and funds that invest in them (or manufacturers of such funds) are concerned that the costs required to be disclosed in key information documents do not appropriately reflect the ongoing costs, they can provide additional factual information (as well as the aggregated figure) such as the breakdown of costs to put the aggregate number in context. For example, a listed closed ended fund may give a better explanation of costs that are clearly corporate costs. As a result, a fund of funds might seek to explain how its own aggregate figure is affected by the investment company’s cost. Listed closed ended funds and other funds that invest in them (or manufacturers and distributors of such funds) can also reflect such explanations in other consumer facing communications. In considering the presentation of the information, the FCA states that firms should also consider their Consumer Duty obligations.