WMA Bulletin 5th April

WMA Bulletin 5th April 2016

Need to Know What's going on in our industry?

WMA meets HM Treasury & HMRC about Lifetime ISA

Ownership of UK-quoted Shares

On 1st April WMA attended a joint HM Treasury/HMRC stakeholder meeting on the Lifetime ISA (LISA).

Practical implementation issues flagged included: - whether the Government bonus will be paid annually or in monthly instalments, - how in practice the purchase of a property will work, particularly if the purchase falls through, and - if investors could be allowed to take out funds from their LISA in-year and not lose the Government bonus, provided they replace those funds in the same year.

These questions and many others will be discussed in a Technical Working Group over the course of April and May and WMA will be represented on that Working Group.

On 31st March the Office for National Statistics (ONS) hosted a stakeholder meeting to discuss the biennial statistical bulletin in respect of ownership of UK quoted shares.

Following previous discussion with the WMA Retail Markets Committee the ONS agreed to publish a breakdown of individual ownership between FTSE 100, AIM and other quoted companies to show the much larger percentage of individual ownership in the latter two categories.

At the March meeting between stakeholders and ONS they agreed to consider clarifying that many from the FTSE 100 sample are essentially UKlisted companies whose revenues and staffing are provided outside of the UK. The ONS bulletin for 2016 will be published around September 2017.

De-materialisation of Share

Exam Syllabus

Certificates The FCA are currently holding a series of The Department of Business, Innovation

meetings revising the exam syllabus for

& Skills (DBIS) have requested

a number of activities such as advising

assistance in assessing the costs and

on investments and managing

benefits to business of de-materialisation

investments. We are attending the

of share certificates.

meetings to try and ensure the content

DBIS have issued a short questionnaire

addresses our member firms business

which has been shared with both the

models. The content of each syllabus will

WMA Retail Markets and Operations

be included in a forthcoming

Committees.

Consultation Paper.

If any other WMA member is interested in seeing a copy of the questionnaire please contact Andy Thompson at WMA. As outlined in the last WMA Bulletin, the Government’s plan remains to consult on this issue in autumn 2016.

What's WMA up to?

Impact of Technology for the Wealth Management Community WMA chaired a panel in Paris on 4th April about the impact of technology and the digital economy on the wealth management sector. The aim was to enhance our messages to ESMA and the Commission about the EU-wide impact of these developments.

Understanding how front end innovation can expand the product range and distribution methods so the client can feel that investing is easier is critical. Regulators should encourage innovation with the appropriate framework and a long term investment culture should be pursued.

WMA responds to ESMA

Transparency of Trilogues

Transaction Reporting proposals On 23rd March WMA responded to the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA's) consultation paper setting out draft guidelines on transaction reporting, reference data, order record keeping and clock synchronisation.

The WMA has responded to the European Ombudsman’s consultation on the Transparency of Trilogues - the informal tripartite meetings on legislative proposals between representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission. We have called for, amongst other things: - Greater pre and post trilogue disclosure

A key WMA concern with ESMA’s proposals is that first name and surname need to be checked against an individual’s passport, a retrograde step in view of the ability of financial institutions to make use of electronic verification when undertaking current AML/KYC checks.

Our concerns have been shared with HM Treasury and the FCA. A copy of the WMA response can be found here.

Benchmarks Consultation At the end of March WMA replied to the ESMA consultation on Benchmarks.

We argued in favour of governance

of relevant documentation e.g. “four column tables”, negotiating positions, and the production and release of minutes.

- A central database or “one-stop-shop” that covers all documentation relating to trilogues.

- Improving transparency in the trilogue process to ensure that issues affecting our sector are identified in their earliest stages and can lead to more effective dialogue among interested stakeholders.

See our response here.

Changes to FTSE/WMA Private Investor Index Series

arrangements that puts our retail indices in the benchmark universe under the

As of 3rd May there will be changes to

agreed Level 1 definitions, with WMA as

the asset allocation within the

a contributor with best best practice

FTSE/WMA Private Investor Index

requirements and not an administrator

Series.

- and therefore putting our indices out of

here in the WMA press release.

View the revised weightings

direct regulation. We will report further as work progresses.

Market Abuse Regulation We replied to the Market Abuse Regulation on Market Soundings by ESMA on 28th March. This was after consultation with the WMA Financial Crime Committee and Regulatory Board Sub-Committee. A copy of the response can be found here.

Coming Up What's coming up in our industry?

HMRC Workshop on Offshore Tax Evasion

London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Borse Merger

WMA is attending a HMRC breakfast seminar on 14th April to discuss offshore tax evasion and in particular what are the key points that HMRC need to communicate on offshore evasion and the automatic exchange of information, who are HMRC’s target groups, and what

The meeting with LSE officials to discuss LSE’s proposed merger with Deutsche Borse that was due to take place on 23rd March has been rescheduled for 13th April. A summary of issues discussed will be provided in the next WMA Bulletin.

are the emerging risks and current issues around such communications.

This follows HMRC’s current consultation on the requirement to notify clients in respect of their obligations to pay tax on any offshore accounts which has been previously flagged in WMA Update and which is due to be finalised very soon.

What's coming up in WMA? WMA-LSE LEI User Group

Prospectus Regulation meetings with FCA and

The WMA-LSE Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) User Group meets for the second time on 6th April. Amongst the topics for discussion will be to consider the practical implications of the recent ESMA Consultation Paper which stated that there was no requirement to ensure that an LEI for a client or counter-party has been renewed.

Visiting Brussels The next WMA visit to Brussels will be on 19th April to discuss a range of issues following up on our work on a number of issues such as Prospectuses, Benchmarks, and the Retail Markets in the EU.

Associate Members Briefing

Treasury We will be attending 3 further meetings held by FCA and Treasury in the first week of April on the draft Prospectus Regulation now before the European Parliament and Council.

We aim to maintain the position on a unified bond market set out in the Commission's text.

Investment Conference Bear markets, Brexit, regulation, client needs. What’s keeping you awake at night in 2016?

The annual WMA Investment Conference is so far proving incredibly popular, with over 100 of our members attending. Join us on 28th April where we will be

The next WMA Associate Members briefing will be held on 20th April at the WMA offices.

This event will provide associate

addressing the business issues that are 'keeping you awake at night'.

Held in London in conjunction with Cass Business School, the all day event

members with the opportunity to learn about the issues currently impacting on the UK Wealth Management community.

It will explore topics such as regulation, operations and taxation and will provide an opportunity for those attending to quiz WMA staff on specific issues that will perhaps impact on our associate members.

Furthermore, this event will allow the WMA to showcase its events programme, research function and publications and provide examples of how associates can engage with our

will provide delegates with the opportunity to hear from some of the industry’s top economists, as well as presentations covering topics ranging from investing in frontier markets to alternative investments.

Furthermore, it will tackle subjects of direct interest and relevance to our member firms’ front office professionals including portfolio theory, sequencing risk and scenario planning.

The Investment Conference is selling out fast, book online now to secure your place.

members and maximise the value they receive from membership.

Following the event there will be a short drinks reception providing an opportunity for networking.

Book online now to secure your place.

For more information on many of the articles above visit the WMA Members Area of our website.

If you have queries you can also contact the relevant WMA Staff Member.

If you have forgotten or do not have your WMA log in details,

Website: www.thewma.co.uk

please contact us at enquiries@thewma.co.uk.

Tel. (+ 44) 20 7448 7100

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