by Andrew Bailey

Lord Mayor, at the end of June it seemed like time to mix things up at the regulators, so here you have Sam and me, from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) respectively. You see, everything seemed a bit dull at the end of June, after all; we had nothing else to do. I want to congratulate Sam – it is a very well deserved appointment – and I have no doubt that he will sort out the PRA after that guy who came before him. Sam is someone who genuinely understands Solvency II, which brings to mind what Lord Palmerston said about the Schleswig-Holstein Question. And, that is Lord Palmerston the former Foreign Secretary, not the Foreign Office cat speaking. For those of you not versed in European politics in the 1800s (does anyone want to lay claim to that honour), Lord Palmerston said “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated; only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I (and I think he was speaking as the Foreign Secretary), am the third and I have forgotten all about it.” 
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The FCA has today banned two individuals from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity in the financial services industry. On 22 November 2013, Richard Aston Clay (‘Mr Clay’) and Kathryn Joy Clark (‘Ms Clark’) were charged with dishonesty offences by the Serious Fraud Office and Nottinghamshire Police. The offences committed by Mr Clay and Ms Clark primarily involved investments in relation to Arck LLP made through HD Administrators LLP (‘HDA’) or through other related companies.
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by Neil Currie

The hazardous nature of the industries that we operate in, like the oil, gas and chemical industry, dictates that our processes and systems are required to be safe, robust and reliable. At the centre of this is a common thread: risk assessment. When identifying hazards and choosing controls there is one key question to answer: are we getting it right?
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by Jorden Veenstra

As with most European legislation MiFID I contained a commitment by the European Commission to re-examine the implementation and impact of MiFID I after a number of years. MiFID II is meant to address the shortcomings of the original MiFID, to extend the scope of MiFID, to respond to lessons learned during the financial crisis and to provide for market and technological developments since 2004. Let us take a closer look at how MiFID II. due for implimentation on January 3, 2018, will impact securities exchanges’ data businesses.
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The Panamanian government has contracted communications and consulting firm Bellwether Strategies to “promote Panama’s commercial and diplomatic objectives” and to provide centralized “crisis communication” strategies for the government’s response to the Panama Papers. Panama’s president Juan Carlos Varela and ambassador to the U.S. Emanuel Gonzalez-Revilla will as the officials overseeing Bellwether’s work.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published the final findings of its investment and corporate banking market study and set out a targeted package of remedies to ensure effective competition in the market. The final report confirms the findings of the interim report published in April 2016. It finds that whilst many clients feel well served by primary capital market services there were some areas where improvements could be made to encourage competition, particularly for smaller clients.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Sonali Bank (UK) Limited (SBUK) £3,250,600 and has imposed a restriction, preventing it from accepting deposits from new customers for 168 days. It has also fined the bank’s former money laundering reporting officer (MLRO), Steven Smith, £17,900 and prohibited him from performing the MLRO or compliance oversight functions at regulated firms. Continue reading…

Her are some remarks made by William Coen, Secretary General of the Basel Committee, at the panel discussion at the 2016 Annual Membership Meeting of the Institute of International Finance, Washington DC, 7 October 2016. Continue reading…

Nordea has on 30 September received the final Capital Joint Decision. The expected Common Equity Tier 1 ratio requirement by 30 September is 17.3%. The Common Equity Tier 1 requirement of 17.3% includes 85 bp (equivalent to a Common Equity Tier 1 requirement of EUR ~1.2bn and a total Own funds requirement of EUR ~1.5bn) due to the PD inspection performed by the college of supervisors (FSAs) during 2016 as well as the corporate risk weight memo (FI Ref. 15-13020).
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