Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 3 2024

Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 3 | 2024 16 QUICK LINKS AIFMD CYBERSECURITY DIGITALISATION DORA EMIR LIBOR FSB IOSCO MICA MIFID II/MIFIR MONEY MARKET FUNDS OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ESG ASIA EUROPE IRELAND LUXEMBOURG NORTH AMERICA SWITZERLAND UNITED KINGDOM UK Government Responds to Treasury Committee on Progress of Edinburgh Reforms On 21 February 2024, the Treasury Committee published a response, dated 8 February 2024, from the UK Government, to its report on the Edinburgh Reforms. The response, by Bim Afolami MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, disagreed with a number of the Report’s conclusions. In the response, Ben Afolami states that he “particularly rejects any suggestion that the reforms will not have a substantial impact on the UK economy and the competitiveness of the UK financial services sector, or that the reforms could be responsibly delivered any faster than they are progressing.” Since the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed in a letter to the Treasury Committee on 6 October 2023 that 21 of the 31 commitments set out as part of the Edinburgh Reforms have been delivered, the Economic Secretary stated that further progress had been made. This included: • The government laid the Digital Securities Sandbox Regulations on 18 December 2023, putting in place the legislative arrangements for the sandbox; • The FCA published their rules for a UK consolidated tape for bonds on 20 December 2023; • The government and FCA jointly publishing a consultation on the Advice Guidance Boundary Review on 8 December 2023, setting out proposals to close the advice gap for financial services consumers; and • The government and Bank of England published their response to the digital pound consultation on 25 January 2024. Link to Government’s Response here Link to Treasury Committee Report here FCA Publish Consumer Duty Implementation – Good Practice and Areas for Improvement On 20 February 2024, the FCA published its Consumer Duty Implementation – Good Practice and Areas for Improvement. The FCA says that its publication builds on its review of firms’ implementation plans and their fair value frameworks and previous communications. The FCA states it: • Reminds firms of the consumer outcomes required by the Consumer Duty; • Sets out recent good practice, including in response to the FCA’s early supervisory work, to deliver these outcomes; and • Highlights areas for improvement where firms have more to do. Areas covered where good practice/improvement needed include: • Culture, governance and monitoring; • Consumers in vulnerable circumstances; • Products and services; • Price and value; • Consumer Understanding; and • Consumer support. With just over six months since the Consumer Duty went live at the end of July 2023, the FCA says firms should consider its findings and continue to make improvements in line with good practice. Also, where firms identify gaps, these should be addressed. The FCA says that the findings may be useful for firms when considering what changes they need to make to meet the 31 July 2024 implementation deadline for closed products and services. Link to FCA Consumer Duty Implementation – Good Practice and Areas for Improvement here