Factsheets

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has produced draft rules for overseas funds being distributed to UK investors. These rules are being put in place for funds from jurisdictions where the UK Government has issued an ’Equivalence’ decision. Read this article to find out more about the new requirements.

This ECB paper is relevant to banks with derivatives and trading books; it explores the operational aspects and hidden costs associated with the wind-down of a bank’s trading book. An orderly wind-down of a trading book may be a recovery option or an element of a bank’s preferred resolution strategy. This paper details principles of ECB’s supervisory expectations with respect to both recovery and resolution planning.

On 30 January, the Central Bank published Guidance for (Re)insurance Undertakings on Intragroup Transactions and Exposures following a consultation that ended in September 2022.

With our finger on the pulse of this ever-evolving industry, we provide intermediaries with practical, cost-effective solutions to address your business needs, from outsourcing, assistance in navigating regulatory landscape developments and their impacts, statutory reporting requirements, to support with mergers and acquisitions.

Following stakeholder consultation, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has published ‘Guidance for (Re)Insurance Undertakings on Climate Change Risk’. The following are the key areas outlined for re(insurers) to integrate climate change risk: Appropriate Governance, Materiality Assessment, Scenario Analysis, Strategy & Business Model, Risk Appetite & Risk Management and Reporting.

The Central Bank of Ireland has reminded firms of their obligations to align the governance and oversight of MGA arrangements with the outsourcing requirements set out in Solvency II for Critical or Important Functions or Activities.

The Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”) set out their findings and expectations for Payment and E-Money firms in its “Dear CEO” letter published January 20, 2023. Rather than issuance of specific additional or “new” expectations, it is a re-affirmation of the out regulatory expectations of authorised Payment and E-Money institutions already set out in the December 2021 letter in the same vein. A year on from that letter, it is clear that the CBI believes the industry has a lot more to do.

The Central Bank of Ireland introduced pre-emptive recovery planning requirements in 2021 and all (re)insurance undertakings have been required to have a recovery plan in place since 31 March 2022. Following submission of the first set of recovery plans by High and Medium-High Impact firms, the Central Bank carried out a thematic review and the main observations were communicated to firms.

In May 2022 the European Commission issued a public consultation to gather evidence for its review of the second EU Payment Services Directive (2015/2366), and to inform its continuing work on open finance. The consultation forms part of the Digital Finance Strategy and the Retail Payments Strategy which aims to conduct a comprehensive review of the application and impact of PSD2 to assess whether legislation remains fit for purpose.

Final guidelines on common procedures and methodologies for the supervisory review and evaluation process for investment firms, along with final draft Regulatory Technical Standards on Pillar 2 add-ons for investment firms are published.

The Central Bank of Ireland has announced that the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) rate on Irish exposures is to be maintained at 0.5 per cent.

In line with the EU’s ‘Financing Sustainable Growth’ Action Plan 2018, the European Commission adopted a number of delegated acts which will impact (re)insurance undertakings and insurance distributors. These changes will apply from 2 August 2022.

This is the first article from Grant Thornton in our series on the Central Bank of Ireland (Central Bank)’s recovery plan Requirements. This introductory article provides an overview of the key requirements of the legislation, the timelines involved and main topics included in your recovery plan.

All regulated financial services providers (RFSPs) with a PRISM impact rating of medium-low or above should now be preparing to submit their first outsourcing register using a new online return. The first submission is due by 31 July 2022.

European regulatory authorities have introduced new legislation, referred to as the Investment Firms Regulation EU 2019/2033 (‘IFR’) and Investment Firms Directive EU 2019/2034 (‘IFD’), which aims to establish a tailored prudential framework for investment firms.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is implementing a new policy strategy regarding institutions’ Pillar 3 disclosures. The new Pillar 3 disclosures aims to promote transparency and enhance institutions’ management of Environmental, Social or Governance (ESG) risks. The EBA is encouraging institutions to foster an awareness of the important role ESG risks play in the transition to a greener economy.