Fortnightly bulletin 22nd march 2017

WMA Bulletin 22nd March 2017

WMA Bulletin is a fortnightly snapshot delivering the latest news and current affairs from within the wealth management industry and WMA.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR INDUSTRY?

HM Treasury Patient Capital Review

HM Treasury (HMT) is leading a 'Patient Capital Review’ which aims to identify barriers to access to long-term finance for growing firms. It will consider both the demand and the supply of finance across public and private markets. The review will receive input from an Industry Panel led by Sir Damon Buffini.

As part of this, they are interested in understanding mandates of Family Offices / Wealth Managers and identifying the main barriers to greater allocation to VC and unquoted equity asset classes.

If WMA firm's would like to contribute to these discussions with HMT please email Emma Clarke to arrange.

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Third country rules and equivalence increasingly debated As the EU awaits the UK's triggering of Article 50, the debate on third country rules and equivalence in financial services is becoming increasingly relevant.

On 9th March 2017, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) held an exchange of views session on third country equivalence. The Committee heard from the Commission’s Olivier Guersent (Director General DG FISMA) and the chairs of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), Andrea Enria (EBA), Gabriel Bernadino (EIOPA) and Stephen Maijoor (ESMA).

The most illuminating aspect of the session was the Commission’s description of its approach to ‘high impact countries’, of which the UK will be one. Any ambitious deal to retain significant access to the European single market in financial services will have to be balanced by a framework that provides equally high confidence that risk is sufficiently supervised.

Guersent firmly rejected the notion that in the future, a regime could seek equivalence at a global rather than EU level, as has been suggested by some in the UK. He explained that global standards provide a common framework for jurisdictions to then develop standards for their region but do not on their own provide sufficiently robust and detailed standards.

Retail Financial Services Action Plan to be published The European Commission’s long awaited Retail Financial Services Action Plan is finally scheduled to be published following the College of Commissioners meeting on 22nd March 2017.

Having been heavily delayed following Commissioner Jonathan Hill’s resignation and the reshaping of the plan to be in line with Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis views, the publication will guide the European Commission’s work in the retail financial services area for the remainder of the Juncker Commission mandate.

The Action Plan is expected to consist of 12 initiatives in three broad areas: empowering consumers, promoting the supply side and guiding digitalisation.

The WMA has engaged with the European Commission on this Action Plan several times in the last year, a further meeting with the relevant Unit in the Commission is scheduled for April 2017.

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WHAT'S WMA WORKING ON? Legal Entity Identifiers WMA met with the Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) on 14th March and also attended a meeting at HMRC on 16th March 2017 where the OTS’ review of stamp duty was discussed.

The OTS’ progress report can be accessed here.

There is an interesting reference on Page 10 of the report about options in respect of the £1,000 stamp duty exemption. One potential option suggested (albeit quickly dismissed!) is to extend the £1,000 exemption to CREST transactions. This is a matter for the Treasury rather than the OTS or HMRC but WMA plan to do some more work in this area.

WMA published a Guide to Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) for use by WMA member firms when liaising with their legal entity clients about obtaining an LEI (where the Legal Entity is required to do so) from 3rd January 2018.

Read a copy of the guide here.

WMA Retail Markets Committee The WMA Retail Markets Committee met on 15th March and focused on three main issues: 

an update on the dematerialisation of share certificates following a meeting hosted by the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy on 1st March 2017 (a fuller note is in the latest issue of WMA Update)

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the FCA’s current consultation on the availability of information in the UK equity IPO process which provided an opportunity to re-iterate some of the “retail” issues

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practical implications of the requirement under article 38(5) of the CSD Regulation to offer clients the option of a segregated or omnibus account. Some draft WMA Q&A in respect of Article 38(5) will be discussed at the next meeting before dissemination to the wider membership.

Latest New Members WMA would like to welcome it's latest two new members: 

Financial Crime Intelligence

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Union Bancaire Privée, SA

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WHAT'S COMING UP IN OUR INDUSTRY? Individual Savings Accounts: Estates in Administration HMRC has published draft legislation to amend the ISA Regulations to allow the savings of a deceased person in an ISA to continue to benefit from tax advantages during the administration of the estate. The consultation is open until 7th April 2017 and can be accessed here.

WMA Industry Events Area If you are hosting an event or know of any interesting events coming up in the industry that you think would be of interest to the WMA community details can be shown on the WMA's Industry Events section of our website. To add your event submit the details via a web-form here for review and then publication by WMA.

WHAT'S COMING UP IN WMA? CPD Seminars: Discussing the MSCI WMA Private Investor Indices MSCI will provide an update on the new MSCI WMA Private Investor Index Series. They will discuss the underlying components of the indices, provide an update on the recent enhancements and answer any questions from member firms.

Book your place at the events held across the UK below: 

Manchester – 23.03.2017

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Edinburgh – 25.04.2017

WMA Regional Briefings Series Throughout March & April WMA Briefings are a series of country-wide events designed to keep members updated on Regulatory, Business and Operational issues in the UK and EU. Book your place at these events and find more here: 

Manchester – 23.03.17

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Jersey – 20.04.17

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Liverpool – 23.03.17

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Newcastle – 24.04.17

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Leeds – 24.03.17

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Edinburgh – 25.04.17

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Dublin – 28.03.17

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Glasgow – 25.04.17

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Belfast – 29.03.17

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Norwich – 26.04.17

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WMA Legal & Compliance Conference 29th June 2017 

Herbert Smith Freehills, London

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09:00 to 17:00 - 5 hrs of CPD

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Tickets: £225 + VAT (Members), £450 + VAT (Non Members)

This full day conference will bring together a high-level audience to engage with the leading industry experts and discuss key issues shaping the compliance in the investment management and financial advice world.

Book Now

Topics and speakers will include: 

Nick Miller, the new FCA Head of Investment Management Supervision “Current issues in Wealth Management Regulation”

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Financial Ombudsman Service "Current trends within our sector and feedback on complaints handling"

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Senior Managers Regime and its interaction with Employment law

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Review of Joint Money Laundering Steering Group’s new Guidance

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MiFID II update

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PRIIPs update

The final agenda will be published at the end of April.

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