Investment Management in Financial Services UK
Innovation and data privacy: the ICO’s technology strategy 2018-21
New technologies and evolving business models have required regulators to review their capabilities and respond to new risks posed. And the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is no exception. The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has vested considerable powers to the ICO to regulate and supervise data privacy risks. Increasing concerns about the wholesale use and processing of personal data by firms are reflected in the ICO's recently published Technology Strategy, which outlines its objectives and focus areas through eight technology goals.
The ICO strategy’s leitmotif is that technological advances “need not come at the expense of data protection and privacy rights” and that “privacy and innovation are not mutually exclusive”. Through the development of its technology strategy, the ICO’s overall aim is to remain relevant by ensuring that the monitoring and understanding of technological change, and its impact on information rights, are a core component of its work going forward.
PS18/4: Credit Cards and Persistent Debt
This blog is aimed at credit card providers but has read across to other consumer credit firms such as debt purchasers, credit reference agencies, debt management companies and providers of free debt advice.
Open-Source or Proprietary Software for Credit Risk: It’s all about asking the right questions
It is no secret that technology and its impact on companies’ business models is shaking up the general market. Technology disruption isn’t limited to media, retail, or transport (to name a few industries), but this disruption is widespread, also impacting financial services. The general theme is that technology enabled companies can execute quicker, cheaper and with greater precision.
Pillar 2 Liquidity: Cashflow Mismatch Risk
Introduction
The PRA recently issued their policy statement on Pillar 2 Liquidity and have finalised the reporting requirements for Cashflow Mismatch Risk (CFMR). This followed the consultation papers released in May 2016 and July 2017. While the policy statement covers CFMR, franchise viability, intraday liquidity and other liquidity risks, this blog focuses on CFMR given the significant implications for firms.
PRA Business Plan 2018/19
The PRA published its Business Plan for 2018/2019 on 9 April 2018. The Business Plan, structured around the PRA’s eight core strategic goals, is cross-sectoral, outlining the work the PRA intends to undertake for the upcoming year across both banking and insurance sectors.
FCA’s Business Plan 2018/19
This blog provides an overview of the FCA’s 2018/19 Business Plan. It discusses the key cross-sector priorities the FCA identifies and compares them to those in the previous year’s business plan, noting dropped, changing and new priorities. It also outlines the FCA’s sector priorities for 2018/19.
Alongside the business plan, the FCA also published its 2018 Sector Views – the FCA’s annual analysis of how each sector is performing – covering retail banking, retail lending, general insurance and protection, pensions and retirement income, retail investments, investment management and wholesale financial markets.
Notably, the UK’s withdrawal from the EU is called out as a top priority, over and above any cross-sector or sector priorities. The FCA notes that they will have to dedicate extra resources to this programme of work, and that this will mean reduced activity in other areas as a result.
FCA and PRA business plans: technological innovation remains a priority
Technology and innovation (“FinTech”) again featured prominently in this year’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) business plan. Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA, remarked that “technology is supporting competition, transforming markets and changing the way consumers engage with them. […] creating a conveyor belt of risks and opportunity”. Given this, and despite the need for the FCA to dedicate a significant proportion of its resources to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, FinTech was confirmed as a key priority for the FCA over the coming year. The two specific FinTech priorities highlighted in the business plan are: Innovation, big data, technology and competition and Data security, resilience and outsourcing.
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)'s emphasis on technological innovation in its business plan is relatively less pronounced. Nevertheless, it too is exploring ways to innovate as a regulator, by continuously monitoring FinTech developments, and supporting the authorisation and supervision of new banks and insurers.
Assessing value for money in investment funds
On 5 April 2018 the FCA published a policy statement, summarised in our recent blog, on its first round measures as part of its asset management market study. Particular interest has been generated by the new rules and prescribed responsibility this contains on assessing value for money. In this blog, we focus on these new rules and consider their implications for firms and senior managers.
AI in financial services - Highlights from the IFGS18 roundtable
Deloitte and UBS[1] hosted a roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the recent Innovate Finance Global Summit 2018 (IFGS18). We had representatives from across the FinTech ecosystem covering incumbents, start-ups, scale–ups, consultants and other service providers.
AI is clearly a hot topic and there are a number of challenges and opportunities to explore. We chose four key themes, crowdsourced from experts in the area:
- Navigating the hype
- Bias and transparency
- Collaboration
- Role of the regulator
After a lively discussion, we used a voting system to identify the top messages by theme. The messages that earned the highest number of votes are summarised below.
FCA’s asset management market study | Shining a light on value for money
As part of its asset management market study, the FCA has published:
- a policy statement on its measures on fund governance, moving investors to better value share classes, and treatment of dealing profits;
- a consultation paper on proposed measures on investor disclosures; and
- an occasional paper on costs and charges disclosures.
These papers follow the FCA’s final report on its asset management market study which was published in June 2017 (see our blog). 1 Below we summarise the key rule changes and assess the implications for firms.