Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 11 2024

6 QUICK LINKS CULTURE CRYPTOASSETS ELTIFS EMIR FINANCIAL STABILITY BOARD FINTECH MIFID II/MIFIR OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE SUSTAINABILITY T+1 ASIA/PACIFIC EUROPE LUXEMBOURG NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 11 | 2024 FCA Announced Launch of its NewAI Lab Initiative On 17 October 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced its new AI Lab initiative, which adds a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) focus to the FCA’s Innovation Services, supporting innovators as they develop new AI models and solutions. The FCA says that the AI Lab will support it in deepening its understanding of the risks and opportunities AI presents to UK consumers and markets, and help inform the FCA’s regulatory approach in a practical, collaborative way. The first components of the AI Lab include: • AI Spotlight. • AI Sprint. • AI Input Zone. • Supercharged Sandbox. FCA Speech The launch of the AI Lab initiative was also covered in a speech, on the same day, by Jesica Rusu, FCA Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, at an FCA Innovation 10th anniversary event. The speech was entitled ‘Ten years of FCA innovation - impact and opportunity’. Link to AI LabWebpage here Link to FCA Speech here MIFID II/MIFIR ESMA Consults on Amendments to MiFID Research Regime On 28 October 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a consultation on amendments to the research provisions in the Markets in Financial Instruments II (MiFID II) Delegated Directive following changes introduced by the Listing Act. ESMA says that the Listing Act introduces changes that enable joint payments for execution services and research for all issuers, irrespective of the market capitalisation of the issuers covered by the research. The consultation paper includes proposals to amend Article 13 of the MiFID II Delegated Directive in order to align it with the new payment option offered. In particular, ESMA’s proposals aim to ensure that: • The annual assessment of research quality is based on robust criteria; and • The remuneration methodology for joint payments for execution services and research does not prevent firms from complying with best execution requirements. ESMA says that the consultation is primarily aimed at research providers, investment firms, and investors. ESMA will consider the feedback received to this consultation by 28 January 2025 and aims to provide its technical advice to the Commission in Q2 2025. Link to Consultation here