Finance and Capital Markets

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The consultation paper confirms a radical approach to bolster the international competitiveness of the UK markets and return to a disclosure-based listing framework.

By Mark Austin, Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

The FCA today published consultation paper CP23/31 setting out detailed draft rules for the new UK listing regime. The publication represents the final stage of the journey to reshape the UK Listing Rules which started with the launch of Lord Hill’s UK Listings Review in 2020. Most of the key changes reflect proposals in the FCA’s preceding consultation paper CP23/10 published in May 2023 (see this Latham Client Alert for further details).

Keeping their focus on success

Critical Third Parties serving the UK financial sector must ready themselves for compliance with the newly proposed operational resilience requirements.

By Rob Moulton, Fiona Maclean, and Charlotte Collins

On 7 December 2023, the PRA, FCA, and BoE jointly published a Consultation Paper (PRA CP26/23 and FCA CP23/30) which proposes a set of regulatory requirements and expectations for critical third parties (CTPs) that provide services to authorised persons, relevant service providers, and financial market infrastructure entities (FMIs). The key aim of the proposals is to manage potential risks to the stability of, or confidence in, the UK financial system that may arise due to a failure in, or disruption to, the services that a CTP provides to such entities.

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The FRC’s future work will be assessed through the lens of the UK’s economic growth and international competitiveness.

By Mark Austin, Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

On 7 November 2023, the FRC announced a significant and wide-ranging policy update which included a material change of direction in relation to how it will approach its work in the future and a significant recalibration of how it will take forward its consultation on proposed changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code. That consultation, which ran from 24 May 2023 to 13 September 2023, sought to implement certain proposals in the UK government’s paper, “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance”. The vast majority of those proposals will no longer be taken forward.

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Companies had raised serious concerns about the additional red tape that the proposed reporting obligations would require.

By Mark Austin, Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

On 16 October 2023, the UK government withdrew the draft Companies (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) (Amendment) Regulations.

The regulations, which formed part of the wider proposals to reform the UK audit and corporate governance regulatory landscape, were laid in Parliament on 19 July 2023. They…

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A new publication from the UK’s financial regulator signals to firms that they should take steps to manage risks in the use of AI.

By Stuart Davis, Fiona M. Maclean, Gabriel Lakeman, and Imaan Nazir

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its latest board minutes highlighting its increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI), in which it “raised the question of how one could ‘foresee harm’ (under the new Consumer Duty), and also give customers appropriate disclosure, in the context of the operation of AI”. This publication indicates that AI continues to be a key area of attention within the FCA. It also demonstrates that the FCA believes its existing powers and rules already impose substantive requirements on regulated firms considering deploying AI in their services.

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The FCA reveals its initial thinking on the regulatory framework for primary multilateral trading facilities and public offer platforms.

By Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

On 13 July 2023, the FCA published its fifth and sixth engagement papers to solicit discussion and feedback on the regulation of public offer platforms and primary multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) under the new regime for public offers and admissions to trading.

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The Court held that banks do not owe this duty to customers deceived into instructing their banks to transfer money to fraudsters.

By Nell Perks and Callum Rodgers

On 12 July 2023, the UK Supreme Court handed down its highly anticipated judgment in Philipp v. Barclays Bank UK PLC [2023] UKSC 25, allowing the appeal brought by Barclays Bank UK PLC (Barclays).

The Court’s decision, which resolved longstanding questions about the nature of the Quincecare duty, clarified that the Quincecare duty only arises in cases in which there is fraud by an agent acting for the customer. As a result, it cannot apply in circumstances in which the relevant payment was authorised by the bank’s customer directly, so it has no application in APP fraud cases. The Court overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had expressly held that that it is “at least possible in principle” that the Quincecare duty could apply to a “victim of APP fraud” on the basis that the Quincecare duty “does not depend on the fact that the bank is instructed by an agent of the customer of the bank”. [1]

FCA takes an innovative approach to obtain feedback from industry and stakeholder groups.

By Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

In May 2023, the FCA launched a process of engagement and dialogue on how the UK’s future prospectus regime could operate. The FCA’s first thematic engagement papers, published on 18 May, aim to solicit discussion and feedback on: (i) whether or how to set prospectus requirements for issuers seeking admission to trading on UK regulated markets; (ii) whether or how to set prospectus requirements for issuers raising further capital; and (iii) how forward-looking information should be covered in prospectuses.

Proposals dramatically reduce the regulatory burden on listed companies.

By James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

On 3 May 2023, the FCA published a consultation paper CP23/10 which sets out a blueprint for changes to the UK listing regime. The key reform proposed is that the existing premium and standard listing segments would be replaced with a single segment for commercial companies.

The Reform will extend tenors and reduce borrowers’ fees to encourage commercial bank lending into energy transition projects.

By Tom Bartlett, JP Sweny, Alexander Buckeridge-Hocking, and Samuel Burleton

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has agreed a landmark deal to modernise the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits (the OECD Arrangement), which is a welcome update for commercial banks, borrowers, and export credit agencies (ECAs) alike.

After several years of negotiation, the participants (Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States) reached an agreement on 31 March 2023, to provide incentives and more favourable terms for financing energy transition projects.

In this article, we summarise the main changes to the OECD Arrangement and how they will benefit project financings and the wider energy transition.