Queens Speech the starting shot for UK regulatory financial services change
10 May 2022
10 May 2022
The Queen's Speech has been published. It includes details of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which will contain post-Brexit regulation on new areas including cryptocurrencies and wholesale markets. It also includes the "Brexit Freedoms Bill" that provides ministers with the power to repeal pieces of EU legislation written into the UK's framework without seeking specific parliamentary votes on such. The detail is still to come but we now expect that many of the significant MiFID II amendments proposed can now be carried out – with a lot still for the FCA to do by way of consultation (given how stretched it is currently, we wonder whether this will be more light jog than a sprint).
Background
The speech has been anticipated by the financial services industry. In his speech at Mansion House in July 2021, the Chancellor set out the Government’s vision for a financial services sector that is globally competitive and acts in the interests of UK communities and citizens. The Financial Services Act 2021, which received Royal Assent in April 2021, was the first major piece of UK post-Brexit legislation. It contained a number measures designed to improve the UK regulatory framework (including measures to amend UK MIFID, the UK Market Abuse Regulation and payment services legislation). The Government indicated at the time that a thorough review of financial services regulation was in the pipeline. In a recent speech, John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, spoke about how the Government would use post-Brexit freedoms to create the right legislation to support an even stronger financial services sector. HMT recently published the Wholesale Markets review (see our briefing here), containing important proposals in relation to UK MIFID. Some of its proposals will fall within the Financial Services and Markets Bill – so this helpfully starts the ball rolling on those reforms.
Areas covered by the Bill include the following:
The information provided is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all developments in the law and practice, or to cover all aspects of those referred to.
Readers should take legal advice before applying it to specific issues or transactions.