Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 8 2024

23 QUICK LINKS AIFMD CBDC CRYPTOASSETS CSDR FINTECH FSB FUND LIQUIDITY MAR MIFID II/MIFIR OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE REMUNERATION SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ ESG UCITS ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE IRELAND NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 8 | 2024 The FCA says a consultation on extending the new rules to the operators of AIFs and UCITS through changes to COBS 18 will follow in the autumn. The final part of the package is a consultation outlining proposals for the derivatives trading obligations to help improve the regulation of secondary markets, reduce systemic risk and disruption to firms. Link to the Full Announcement here FRC Announces Significant Update to the UK Stewardship Code On 22 July 2024, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced revisions to the UK Stewardship Code application process and committed to five priority areas of review as it continues its revision of the Code. The FRC will now focus on five themes in the new phase of the Code’s revision: • Purpose – The FRC will consider all stakeholder views and set out its expectation of what defines effective stewardship, what this looks like in practice, and how reporting against the Code can help to deliver this. • Principles – The FRC is considering what reporting will be necessary to deliver on a renewed purpose of the Code. • Proxy Advisors – The FRC will carefully consider how the Code might support greater transparency of their activities. • Process – The FRC will take forward proposals to reduce the reporting burden currently associated with being a Code signatory and ensure that information included in reports is useful and accessible to all underlying investors and other stakeholders. • Positioning – The FRC is working closely with other regulators such as the FCA to support clarity in understanding the revised Code and its successful implementation. The Code will continue to support the objectives of those other regulators to avoid any confusion and duplication that signatories may encounter. The FRC is also making five immediate changes to significantly reduce the reporting burden on existing signatories. These changes will: • Remove the requirement to annually disclose all ‘Context’ reporting expectations, except for new reports or material changes. • Remove the requirement to annually disclose against ’Activity‘ and ’Outcome‘ reporting expectations for some Principles. • Explicitly allow use of content from previous reporting and cross-referencing of such reports. • Set clear expectations of what is considered an ‘outcome’ for stewardship purposes. • Emphasise the ability to exercise reporting against Principles 10, collaborative engagement, and 11 escalation ‘where necessary’. These reporting changes to the Code will apply for the next application window (31 October 2024) and the FRC will be writing to signatories individually to inform them of how these changes impact them. The FRC says it is confident that these early changes to the reporting process will significantly reduce application and reporting burdens for signatories going forward. The FRC will launch a formal public consultation on the Code later this year. Link to Announcement here