PIMFA Weekly News Bulletin

PIMFA Advice/ Guidance Working Group

We are still seeking participants for our Advice/Guidance Working Group, which will aim to conduct its first meeting by the end of May.

As you will be aware, the government has committed to look at the boundary between regulated financial advice and guidance as part of its wider package of measures outlined in the Edinburgh Reforms.

We are supportive of such a review and consider that there are clear areas where firms could benefit from greater clarity on what constitutes guidance without necessarily straying into the provision of regulated financial advice.

We consider it incumbent as an organisation to define what a good outcome for the industry would be with respect to any recalibration of the boundary and are therefore inviting firms from across the membership to participate in a newly launched working group to help us come to an industry-wide position.

Firms who would be interested in participating in this working group should contact Simon Harrington

Next meeting Wednesday 17 May 14:00 - 16:00

- PIMFA members only

Jon Cosson from J M Finn has kindly offered to host the next Cyber Security Working Group at their City offices at 25 Copthall Avenue, so members can join the meeting in person or via MS Teams. This working group offers members an excellent opportunity to hear about the latest trends in cyber security, and to share knowledge and experiences with their peers. On the agenda this time:

• CBEST Thematic Findings Report and CQUEST Questionnaire;

• potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on cyber security;

• managing cyber security when staff are accessing the firm's systems while travelling on business or working from home;

• 'What's in your in tray?' - what are firms working on now and what's next?

If you are a PIMFA member and would like to join this group and attend the meetings, please contact KevinS@pimfa.co.uk

Senior Managers and Certification Regime Review

Following publication of Treasury’s Call for Evidence and the Regulators’ Discussion Paper, PIMFA are keen to understand what member firms would like to see changed in the regime, as well as those aspects of the regime they do not want changed.

We are hosting a call at 3pm on 4 May to consider the review–please contact Alex or Yasmin if you would like to join the discussion/share your views.

PIMFA Operational Resilience Working Group

Next meeting Tuesday 16 May 14:00 - 16:00 via MS Teams

At this meeting, the group will be exploring:

• the recent CBEST Thematic Findings Report and CQUEST questionnaire;

• potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on Operational Resilience;

• FCA 'Critical Third Party' Survey;

• T+1 settlement - impact on operational resilience;

• 'What's in your in tray?' - what are you working on today and what's next?

Whilst not all PIMFA members are in scope for the FCA's Operational Resilience rules, there's a lot to be gained from this group, in terms of exploring how resilient your business is to an ever-increasing range of potential threats and harms, where the potential weak spots may be located and how you can mitigate the risks, as well as the resilience of those third parties you rely on day to day to support your business, whether they are supplying IT platforms, data, payment systems, custody, transaction processing, etc.

Please join us, get involved in the discussion and share your knowledge and experience with other firms who are all working towards building a more resilient business. If you would like to join this group and attend our meetings, please contact KevinS@pimfa.co.uk.

Innovation Challenge

The City of London Corporation and City of London Police are running a Cyber Innovation Challenge to support the financial services sector and enhance the UK’s cyber security offer.

The application process for technology participants will run for two weeks from 15th-31st May 2023. Successful technology companies will participate in a six week sprint where they will engage in 1:1 feedback sessions with the financial services sector to enhance their product. Participants will also benefit from the insights and expertise of Supporting Partners Microsoft, Department for Business and Trade, UK Finance and London and Partners. A showcase event to highlight the work of participants will be held at Guildhall.

The application form and criteria will be made available on the City of London Corporation’s LinkedIn and Twitter page on Monday 15th May.

In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact TechInnovationTeam@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Innovative Technology in the Industry

HM Treasury announced that the Economic Secretary has re-established the Asset Management Taskforce (26 April 2023) which convenes senior leadership from industry and the FCA to identify the potential of innovative new technologies for the UK asset management industry.

The Treasury also launched a new Technology Working Group (in parallel to the Taskforce) to: examine the impact of new technology on the asset management sector articulate the benefits of technology for investors and industry identify the main opportunities presented by technologies including tokenisation, artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.

The group will hold a series of meetings over the next year and subsequently produce a final report to set out the group’s findings and contain guidance and recommendations for government, regulators and industry.