Part III Financial Sectors and Activities, 18 Wholesale Investment Firms

Author(s):  
Walker George ◽  
Purves Robert ◽  
Blair Michael

This chapter examines the UK regulatory framework governing wholesale investment firms. It first provides a brief historical overview of the evolution of regulation with respect to investment firms, from the Anderson Report to the Bodkin Report, the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Acts 1939/1958, and the Gower Report. The chapter proceeds by discussing the Investment Services Directive 1993, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FMSA), and the Financial Services Act 2012. It also considers the current state of financial services regulation in the European Union by focusing on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation. Finally, it analyses the Prudential Regulation Authority's (PRA) Fundamental Rules and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Principles for Businesses, financial promotions and client communications under FMSA, and rules on dealing in securities and conflicts of interest.

Author(s):  
Penn Bob ◽  
Forzani Alex ◽  
Allen & Overy LLP

This chapter summarizes and discusses the UK regulatory framework for recognized investment exchanges (RIEs) and recognized clearing houses (RCHs) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). It considers the framework in light of the current and forthcoming European legislation. It also examines the applicability of the framework to RIEs and RCHs in the context of the recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the UK's departure from the European Union (Brexit). This chapter outlines the central role of exchanges and clearing houses in the operation of financial markets. It explains that the exchanges offer marketplaces for the trading of financial instruments, provide market data which facilitates trading, and establish standards for the offering of securities, while clearing houses manage the performance of financial contracts between the point of execution and final settlement and mitigating the risk and consequences of default.


Author(s):  
Walker George ◽  
Purves Robert ◽  
Blair Michael

This chapter examines the regulatory framework for listing and public offers in the UK, with a particular focus on the Prospectus Directive regime that was first adopted by the European Union in November 2003 and implemented in the UK from 1 July 2005. The Prospectus Directive regime regulates information disclosure in connection with a public offer or admission to listing on a regulated market in the EU. The chapter first provides an overview of the evolution of the Prospectus Directive regime before discussing its implementation in the UK. It then considers when a prospectus is required and what it must contain and describes the listing regime in the UK, which combines admission to the ‘Official List’ with admission to trading on one of the markets of the London Stock Exchange. The chapter also explains the UK listing requirements and the ongoing obligations faced by issuers admitted to listing and trading.


EU Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 832-888
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) has two separate chapters on self-employed persons who move on a permanent or temporary basis between Member States: the chapters on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services. The central principles governing freedom of establishment and the free movement of services are laid down in the TFEU and have been developed through case law. Important developments have also been brought about through secondary legislation in sectors such as insurance, broadcasting, financial services, electronic commerce, telecommunications, and other ‘services of general economic interest’. This chapter focuses on the broad constitutional principles applicable to every sector. The UK version contains a further section analysing issues concerning freedom of establishment and the provision of services between the EU and the UK post-Brexit.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 20170097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scheherazade S. Rehman ◽  
Pompeo Della Posta

On June 23, 2016, the UK decided to leave the European Union (EU), commonly known as “Brexit”. The UK has two years to conclude their new arrangement with the EU27 after evoking Article 50 Treaty of Lisbon officially, which it did on March 27, 2017. While there is a range of possible trade agreements most are unlikely as they would either imply repudiating firm EU legal principles or strong promises that the current UK government is committed to maintain. The article discusses these options. Moreover, the article focuses on the trade and investment flows between the UK and EU27 and discusses the possible short-term implications of Brexit with a specific attention to the most impacted sector, that of financial services.


EU Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 861-920
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) has two separate chapters on self-employed persons who move on a permanent or temporary basis between Member States: the chapters on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services. The central principles governing freedom of establishment and the free movement of services are laid down in the TFEU and have been developed through case law. Important developments have also been brought about through secondary legislation in sectors such as insurance, broadcasting, financial services, electronic commerce, telecommunications, and other ‘services of general economic interest’. This chapter focuses on the broad constitutional principles applicable to every sector. The UK version contains a further section analysing issues concerning freedom of establishment and the provision of services between the EU and the UK post-Brexit.


Author(s):  
Charles Oppenheim

A review is provided of the current state of play for the Marrakesh Treaty providing exceptions to copyright, allowing those with visual disabilities or organisations acting on their behalf to make accessible copies of works, in order to assist those with such visual disabilities. A key feature of this Treaty is the fact that it is the first international copyright treaty that gives users, as opposed to copyright holders, explicit rights that cannot be overridden by contract or by technical protection measures. Another key feature is that it provides users with the possibility of receiving ‘accessible copies’ of works from abroad. The current situation regarding implementation of the Treaty with 88 countries signing up to it, but only 25 so far having ratified it, is provided, together with an analysis of the position in the European Union (EU) and an analysis of the United Kingdom’s curiously inconsistent attitude towards the Treaty, when compared to its own even more generous provisions for those with all disabilities, not just visual ones. An explanation of this inconsistent approach – the intense euroscepticism of the UK Government leading to its unwillingness to let the EU pass directives, together with the manner in which the problem has been bypassed by the European Court of Justice – is given.


Author(s):  
Walker George ◽  
Purves Robert ◽  
Blair Michael

This chapter examines the market abuse regime designed to protect and maintain orderly financial markets in the UK. It first provides an introduction to market abuse before discussing the development of the market abuse regime and the provisions of the European Union Market Abuse Regulation (EU MAR). It then considers the range of civil offences under the market abuse regime, including offences committed before EU MAR took effect, as well as the legislative and regulatory rule changes that were required in the UK to implement EU MAR. It also explains the distinction between criminal prosecution and civil action by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the obligations to detect and prevent market abuse, and the range of sanctions that can be imposed by the FCA for breaches of EU MAR. The chapter concludes with an analysis of enforcement trends, the mood of the regulator and future developments relating to market abuse.


2020 ◽  
pp. 096977642097581
Author(s):  
Martin Heneghan ◽  
Sarah Hall

The United Kingdom’s (UK) withdrawal from the European Union (EU) will reshape the geography of European finance. From January 2021, the UK will no longer be able to sell financial services cross-border into the EU’s Single Market as it has done as a Member State. Through what are called passporting rights, these financial services exports from London to the EU have been central to London’s competitiveness as an international financial centre and the wider importance of financial services in the UK’s political economy. They have also provided a range of financial services to businesses and individuals in Europe. In this commentary, we examine the implications of Brexit for the financial services sector and for conceptual understandings of finance in economic geography and cognate social sciences. We argue that at the European scale, Brexit is giving rise to growing fragmentation of financial services to a range of European financial centres. Meanwhile, within the UK, finance is likely to become more concentrated in London as renewed processes of spatial concentration that have characterised previous economic shocks develop. Our analysis shows that that in order to understand these seemingly diverging geographies it is necessary to understand financial services as both economic and political practices.


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