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PIMFA WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN | 21 June 2021 Dear Nigel,
Welcome to the PIMFA Bulletin; grab a coffee and take 10 minutes to read this week's latest industry news impacting you and your firm.
A bold new regulatory framework for the UK
The Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) has reported its recommendations to the Prime Minister on how the UK can reshape its approach to regulation and seize new opportunities from Brexit. The Prime Minister asked the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, and George Freeman MP to form the Taskforce to identify and develop proposals across a range of areas that will drive innovation, growth and competitiveness through regulatory reform.
The report includes around 100 recommendations, which the Taskforce believes would make a material difference to the UK’s economic growth without reducing the UK’s commitment to gold standard protections for consumers, workers and the environment. The recommendations cover three areas: 1. A bold new UK regulatory framework based on core principles of UK law; 2. Specific regulatory reforms in high-growth sectors in which we see particular opportunities for the UK; and 3. proposals for how these reforms could be delivered.
The report claims that leaving the EU offers opportunities both to shed unnecessary EUderived legislation, and to frame a UK approach to regulation with three aims in mind - boosting productivity, encouraging competition and stimulating innovation. To achieve this, UK regulation should be proportionate, forward-looking and outcome-focused, as well as collaborative, experimental and responsive. The proposed new ‘Proportionality Principle’ is absolutely central to the new framework by making regulation proportionate to both the scale of the risk being mitigated, and the capacity of the organisation being regulated. TIGRR believes this new UK framework will boost both UK economic competitiveness and UK regulatory leadership.
UK – Australia Free Trade Agreement secured
The UK has secured a trade deal with Australia, eliminating tariffs on all UK goods and boosting jobs and businesses across the country, in the first major trade deal negotiated from scratch by the Government since the UK left the EU. The main elements of the deal were agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 14 June.
The UK-Australia trade relationship was worth £13.9 billion last year and is set to grow under the deal, creating opportunities for businesses and producers in every part of the UK. Under the agreement, Brits under the age of 35 will be able to travel and work in Australia more freely, opening exciting opportunities for young people. Boris Johnson said that the agreement “marks a new dawn in the UK’s relationship with Australia, underpinned by our shared history and common values.” He said the deal was “global Britain at its best – looking outwards and striking deals that deepen our alliances and help ensure every part of the country builds back better from the pandemic.” An agreement with Australia is also a gateway into the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region and will boost the UK’s bid to join CPTPP, one of the largest free trade areas in the world, covering £9 trillion of GDP and 11 Pacific nations from Australia to Mexico.
PIMFA Asset Allocation Survey OPEN
The Q3 2021 PIMFA Asset Allocation Survey is now open for submissions of your firms model portfolios. Complete the survey in as little as 1 minute, receive your firms complimentary Compare My Allocations report and see how your firm's portfolios compare to others across asset classes, investment strategies and risk categories. Please contact indices@pimfa.co.uk for more information.
Latest PIMFA Press Releases
Rosie Reynolds Marketing joins as the latest PIMFA Plus Partner to help firms develop their digital futures
Latest PIMFA Press Coverage
FT Adviser: How can we stop savers doing nothing at all?
PIMFA voices disappointment at fee approach for Appointed Representatives
FT Adviser: New FCA fees will change
PIMFA launches their first industry awards to recognise companies promoting diversity and inclusion
DiversityQ: UK financial services scene to get
PIMFA welcomes FCA plans to stop Claims Management Companies from ‘Phoenixing’
Portfolio Adviser: Mass UK adviser exit fails to
mortgage advice sector, says trade body
new D&I awards
materialise despite tougher regulation
Past Precedent and Future Opportunities: Assessing Digital Trade Provisions for the UK FPS sector
A new report released on 16 June by the City of London Corporation calls on the UK Government to secure strong commitments on digital trade in future free trade agreements (FTAs). Past Precedent and Future Opportunities: Assessing Digital Trade Provisions for the UK FPS sector aims to support trade negotiators by providing a financial and professional services (FPS) view on best practice for digital trade provisions in trade agreements. It says that the UK should ensure that the free movement of financial data is a
feature of all FTAs going forward.
Digital services are a core part of the UK economy, with over 67% of service exports worth £190.3 billion pre-pandemic being digitally delivered. This increase in digitalisation has made it easier for FPS firms to engage in digital trade, raising a whole set of new challenges, not least how this trade is regulated, and whether the current trade rules adequately address trade in the digital age.
The report makes a number of other recommendations, including that the UK should ensure that the free movement of financial data is a feature of all FTAs going forward, break ground on cooperation between jurisdictions to enhance regulatory coherence and standards in this area, use its seat at the WTO to put forward the case for making the moratorium on e-commerce permanent, align itself with likeminded jurisdictions and aim to position itself at the heart of an integrated global digital economy, whilst establishing greater cooperation on cybersecurity issues.
EVENTS & LEARNING
Diversity & Inclusion Awards Entries Close: 17 August | Event Date: 20 October The inaugural PIMFA Diversity & Inclusion Awards will be taking place on 20 October and entries are NOW OPEN!
Entry to the PIMFA D&I Awards is free and open to all firms, large or small, and stakeholders in the wealth management, investment services and financial advice sector. Please click here to view the categories.
Judges Rhonda Alexander, Founder - The Maven Group Matt Cameron, Global Managing Director - LGBT Great Andrew Croft, Chief Executive Officer - St. James’s Place Roopalee Dave, Director Wealth and Asset Management – EY Theresa Heaton, Head of Change - Brown Shipley Emma Howell, Business Development Manager – Worksmart Claire Limon, Wealth Director - The Openwork Partnership Jennifer Mathias, Group Finance Director – Rathbones Peter Moores, CEO - Raymond James Samuel Okafor, Affluent Lifecycle Origination Lead - Coutts Katerina Rudiger, Chief Executive - The Brokerage Bev Shah, Founder and CEO - City Hive Richard Wilson, Chief Executive - Interactive Investor Please click here to find out more and start your entry.
View upcoming PIMFA Events and Learning here.
PARTNER EVENTS
Morningstar Investment Conference 29 - 30 June
The annual Morningstar Investment Conference will be taking place as a digital event again this year, hosted online on 29-30 June. The conference is FREE for advisers, wealth managers and paraplanners to attend. The agenda continues to grow! As well as sessions on ESG and how it can be implemented into the Adviser practice; Greenwashing (presented by Hortense Bioy, Director, Sustainability Research, Global Manager Research at Morningstar, a session from foreign affairs broadcaster Tim Marshall on Geopolitics and Jim Leaviss, Head of Public Fixed Income and Fund Manager of the M&G Global Macro Bond Fund who will be discussing the importance of a flexible approach when it comes to Fixed Income Investing. More speakers will be joining and you can rest assured that we will include research, insights, and analysis from our Morningstar subject matter experts that can help us all explore new horizons for empowering investor success. All content from the conference will be available on demand until 30 July. Find out more and register here.
ESMA publishes its Annual Report
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its Annual Report, which reviews its achievements in 2020 against its priorities and objectives in meeting its
mission of enhancing investor protection and promoting stable and orderly financial markets in the EU.
The Report provides an overview of the work carried out by ESMA in 2020, following the entry into force of the revised ESMA Regulation and the amendments to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 2.2), updating ESMA's governance and introducing new mandates for the organisation, which are shifting ESMA's focus towards supervisory convergence. In addition to fulfilling its mandates, ESMA had to respond to the combined effects on financial markets of the COVID 19 pandemic and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Anneli Tuominen, ESMA’s Interim Chair, said that the past year has been “a challenging and transformative year for ESMA”. She said that two key achievements are related directly to the new mandates, the swift response to the Wirecard case, which resulted in a comprehensive report with recommendations in November, and the establishment of the central counterparties supervisory committee. Touminen added that “ESMA enters its second decade as an established regulator with solid foundations, thanks to its former senior management, fit to meet any challenges the new decade poses to investor protection and orderly and stable financial markets.”
PIMFA's Consultation Responses
PIMFA’s latest Consultation Response is to the FCA's CP21/7 on a new UK Prudential regime for MIFID investment firms. Read this and all other PIMFA consultation papers here.
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