| 1 | A guide to PLC Finance's regulatory resources A guide to PLC Finance's regulatory resources. For detailed resources on financial services regulation, see PLC Financial Services. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 2 | A guide to the new UK financial services regulatory structure ... This practice note acts as an index to PLC's resources on the reforms to the UK financial services regulatory structure that took place on 1 April 2013. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 3 | An overview of the UK anti-money laundering and counter ... A brief overview of the UK's anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regime. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 4 | Basel III: an overview This practice note provides a high-level overview of Basel III, a sequence of major reforms to the Basel II international prudential framework for capital requirements. The note considers the main Basel III reforms agreed in December 2010, as well as the additional capital requirements for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) agreed in November 2011. For details of other ongoing initiatives being undertaken by the BCBS, see Practice note, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision: ongoing initiatives and for more information on the "Basel 2.5" reforms agreed in July 2009, see Practice note, Basel 2.5: an overview. For details of the EU implementation of the key Basel III reforms, see Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 5 | BCBS: ongoing initiatives An overview of the main initiatives currently being undertaken by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to address issues arising from the financial crisis, following agreement reached on the Basel III reforms in December 2010. For information on initiatives relating directly to the Basel III reforms, see Practice note, Basel III: an overview. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 6 | CRD reform: overview An overview of work carried out by the European Commission to amend the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). It summarises the proposals in each of the series of major amendments to the CRD, referred to individually as CRD II (2009/111/EC), CRD III (2010/76/EU) and CRD IV, and other amendments made to the CRD since its adoption. For more detailed information on CRD II, CRD III and CRD IV see Practice note, CRD II, Practice note, CRD III and Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 7 | Financial Services Act 2012 An overview of the Financial Services Act 2012 (FS Act), the primary legislation enabling the government's reforms of the UK financial services regulatory structure. It also includes links to relevant PLC Financial Services content relating to individual provisions in the FS Act. For information on the parliamentary progress of the FS Act, see Legislation tracker: Financial Services Act 2012. This note is part of a series of notes relating to the new UK financial services regulatory structure. For more information, see Practice note, A guide to the new UK financial services regulatory structure: index. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 8 | FSMA overview An overview of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 9 | Hot topics: CRD IV This practice note provides an overview of CRD IV (also referred to as CRD 4 or CRD4), a major package of reforms to the EU's capital requirements regime for credit institutions and investment firms. CRD IV will recast and replace the existing Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD) with a new directive and regulation: the CRD IV Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The main role of CRD IV will be to implement in the EU the key Basel III reforms agreed in December 2010. These include amendments to the definition of capital and counterparty credit risk and the introduction of a leverage ratio and liquidity requirements. For more information on Basel III, see Practice note, Basel III: an overview. For information about the UK implementation of CRD IV and Basel III, see Practice note, Hot topics, UK implementation of CRD IV. The key primary source material table in this document contains links to key primary source material and related PLC Financial Services legal updates. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all relevant materials published by interested parties. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 10 | Hot topics: EMIR This practice note provides a high level overview of the key regulatory developments at an EU level relating to EMIR (the Regulation on OTC derivative transactions, central counterparties and trade repositories (Regulation 648/2012)). The key primary source material table in this note contains links to key primary source material and related PLC Financial Services Legal updates. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all relevant materials published by interested parties. For information on the EMIR clearing requirement for OTC derivative contracts, see Practice note, EMIR: reqirement to clear OTC derivative contracts through a CCP. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 11 | Hot topics: New UK financial services regulatory structure An overview of current progress of the reforms to the UK financial services regulatory structure, under which the FSA will be abolished and the majority of its functions transferred to new regulators: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The note tracks developments, sets out the milestones for future development and provides links to PLC Financial Services' resources on the new regulatory structure. The key primary source material table in this note contains links to key primary source material and related PLC Financial Services legal updates. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all relevant materials published by interested parties. For an index to PLC's resources on the government's proposals for reforming the UK financial services regulatory structure, see Practice note, A guide to the new UK financial services regulatory structure: index. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 12 | Hot topics: UK implementation of CRD IV An overview of how the UK is implementing CRD IV, a major package of reforms to the EU's capital requirements regime for credit institutions and investment firms. It includes details of the work of the FCA, the PRA and HM Treasury, explains which firms will be affected and contains a timeline showing future developments. For information on EU developments relating to CRD IV, see Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 13 | Money laundering toolkit All businesses in the regulated sector, including lawyers, accountants and financial institutions, need to be aware of their obligations under the anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Failure to comply with the AML regime could, in the worst case, lead to personal criminal liability. This toolkit guides users through PLC's UK, EU, US and international resources on AML. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 14 | New UK financial services regulatory structure: a quick guide A quick guide to the changes to the UK financial services regulatory structure made by the Financial Services Act 2012. On 1 April 2013, the FSA was abolished and the majority of its functions transferred to two new regulators: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). On the same date, the Bank of England (BoE) took over the FSA's responsibilities for financial market infrastructures and the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) was established on a statutory basis. For an index of PLC's resources on the new regulatory structure, see A guide to the new UK financial services regulatory structure: index.This is one of a series of quick guides: see Quick guides. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 15 | Regulated Activities Order: overview An overview of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (SI 2001/544) (RAO), including its specified activities, specified investments, exclusions, exemptions and overrides. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 16 | Regulatory capital for banks and investment firms: an ... A high-level overview of current regime relating to the regulatory capital of banks and investment firms. It considers why regulators require firms to hold regulatory capital, the sources for the rules relating to this area and key issues concerning the quality and quantity of capital. For information on the Basel III reforms, which will make extensive changes to the requirements relating to the quality and quantity of capital, see Practice note, Basel III: an overview. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 17 | Road Map to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and ... This Note tracks the rules and regulations which implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, as well as related regulations and developments, and includes links to summaries of the main areas of reform and other topical PLC resources. | Practice note: overview | Maintained |
| 18 | Asset purchase facility: developments tracker The UK government, Bank of England and the regulatory authorities have taken a number of measures to support the banks and the interbank lending market during the current financial crisis. The purpose of this note is to highlight the chronological developments relating to one of the central pieces of this stability package: the Bank of England's Asset Purchase Facility. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 19 | Basel 2.5: an overview This practice note provides an overview of Basel 2.5 (also referred to as Basel II.5), a set of major reforms to Basel II that were agreed in July 2009. The Basel 2.5 reforms included measures relating to securitisation and trading book exposures and are due to be implemented by 31 December 2011. For more information on the Basel III reforms, see Practice note, Basel III: an overview. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 20 | Basel II: an overview This practice note provides a high-level overview of the Basel II capital adequacy framework. Please note that this note relates only to the Basel II framework as it stood at July 2006. For information on the Basel 2.5 and Basel III reforms, see Practice note: Basel 2.5: an overview and Practice note, Basel III: an overview. | Practice notes | 04-Jul-2006 |
| 21 | Bribery Act 2010 A practice note about the Bribery Act 2010, which received Royal Assent in April 2010 and came into force on 1 July 2011. The background to the Act is described in Practice note, Bribery: law reform. PLC's materials on the Bribery Act are set out in Bribery Act 2010: toolkit. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 22 | CRD II This practice note provides an overview of CRD II (2009/111/EC) (also referred to as CRD 2 or CRD2), a directive forming part of a sequence of major amendments of the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD) initiated by the European Commission. CRD II made significant amendments to the CRD in areas including large exposures, hybrid capital instruments, liquidity risk management, securitisations, and cross-border supervisory arrangements. For information about the UK implementation of CRD II, see Practice note, UK implementation of CRD II. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 23 | CRD III This note provides an overview of CRD III (2010/76/EU) (also referred to as CRD 3 or CRD3), a directive forming part of a sequence of major amendments of the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD) initiated by the European Commission. CRD III makes significant changes to the remuneration structures and capital requirements of credit institutions and investment firms. For information about the UK implementation of CRD III, see Practice note, UK implementation of CRD III. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 24 | CRD IV: development of the reforms This practice note provides an overview of the development of the CRD IV reforms, a major package of reforms that will recast and replace the existing Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). The note considers the development of the CRD IV reforms before the European Commission published its legislative proposals for CRD IV in July 2011. It also sets out details of certain reform areas originally intended to form part of CRD IV that the Commission has abandoned or deferred. For more information on the ongoing progress of CRD IV, see Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 25 | CRD IV: the proposed Capital Requirements Regulation This practice note provides an overview of the proposed Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), which, together with the proposed CRD IV Directive, forms part of the CRD IV package of reforms (sometimes referred to as CRD 4 or CRD4), that will recast and replace the existing Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). The note sets out details of the key reforms that the European Commission intends to introduce through the CRR, including Basel III reforms relating to regulatory capital, counterparty credit risk, and new leverage and liquidity requirements, as well as non-Basel III reforms including remuneration disclosure. For more information on the progress of CRD IV, see Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV, and for more information on the CRD IV Directive, see Practice note, CRD IV: the proposed CRD IV Directive. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 26 | CRD IV: the proposed CRD IV Directive This practice note provides an overview of the proposed CRD IV Directive which, together with the proposed Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), forms part of the CRD IV package of reforms (also referred to as CRD 4 or CRD4), that will recast and replace the existing Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). The note sets out details of the key reforms that the European Commission intends to introduce through the CRD IV Directive, including Basel III reforms relating to capital conservation buffers and countercyclical capital buffers and amendments to the CRD's existing corporate governance and sanctions regime. For more information on the legislative progress of CRD IV, see Practice note, Hot topics: CRD IV, and for more information on the CRR, see Practice note, CRD IV: the proposed Capital Requirements Regulation. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 27 | EU financial services supervisory framework: a quick guide This is a quick guide to the EU financial services supervisory framework that formally came into effect on 1 January 2011. The framework is known as the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS). It consists of: The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) (which have replaced the previous level 3 "Lamfalussy" committees): the European Banking Authority (EBA); the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA); and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). The Joint Committee of the ESAs. The 27 EU member state national supervisors. For a more detailed overview of the ESFS, see Practice note, An overview of the EU Financial Services supervisory framework. The reform of the EU financial services supervisory framework, which resulted in the ESFS, was tracked in Reform of European financial services supervisory framework: key developments tracker. This tracker includes key source materials, together with related PLC Financial Services coverage. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 28 | Finance law: training materials for new joiners Do you have a trainee or newly qualified lawyer joining your finance team? Are you a trainee or newly qualified lawyer wondering what finance transactions are all about? Have you moved in house and find yourself having to get to grips with finance law? If so, have a look at the following materials to get an overview of the law and practice of finance transactions. Remember to arrange for any new recruits to get access to PLC Finance and ensure they are signed up to receive our weekly and/or monthly e-mails. To do this, please e-mail info@practicallaw.com or contact your account manager on 020 7202 1220. If you do not subscribe to PLC Finance, see Request a free trial or call 020 7202 1220 to register your interest in a free trial. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 29 | Financial Conglomerates Directive An overview of the key provisions of the Financial Conglomerates Directive (2002/87/EC) (FICOD), also referred to as the FCD or the Financial Groups Directive (FGD). The note also considers amendments made to FICOD since its adoption and likely future revisions to FICOD. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 30 | Historic practice note on the Banking Consolidation Directive ... This note provides a high level overview of the main provisions of the Banking Consolidation Directive (BCD) (2000/12/EC) which came into force on 15 June 2000. The BCD was recast and substantially amended in June 2006 (2006/48/EC) and makes up one part of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) which came into force on 1 January 2007. The CRD has been substially amended since 2007. This practice note relates to the original BCD only. For further information on the CRD, see Practice note, UK implementation of the Capital Requirements Directive. For more information on subsequent reforms to the CRD, see Practice note, CRD reform: overview. | Practice notes | 23-Oct-2006 |
| 31 | Key dates for finance lawyers in 2013 A practice note listing key forthcoming dates for UK finance lawyers. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 32 | LIBOR review and reform: overview for finance lawyers This note provides an overview of the proposals to reform LIBOR, focussing on those aspects that may impact existing and future finance agreements that refer to LIBOR. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 33 | Listing debt securities in London An overview of the rules and procedures for listing debt securities in London. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 34 | Prospectus Directive and debt securities An overview of the Prospectus Directive (2003/71/EC) (as amended) and the Prospectus Regulation (809/2004) (as amended), and the content requirements for a prospectus for an issue of debt securities. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 35 | Recent and proposed changes to the Listing Rules ... This note tracks the recent changes and proposed changes to the Listing, Prospectus, Disclosure and Transparency Rules. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 36 | Selling debt securities: UK selling restrictions An overview of some of the restrictions that apply to offering and trading transferable securities, and the market practice on offering bonds in the UK. This note was previously called UK selling restrictions: debt securities. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 37 | Short Selling Regulation: sovereign debt and CDS A note on the EU Short Selling Regulation (236/2012) that came into force in the UK on 1 November 2012. The note gives an overview of the restrictions on short selling EU sovereign debt and entering into sovereign credit default swaps, and sets out the applicable exemptions and notification requirements under the Short Selling Regulation. | Practice notes | Maintained |
| 38 | UK implementation of CRD II CRD II (2009/111/EC) (also referred to as CRD 2 or CRD2) is a directive forming part of a sequence of major amendments to the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). This resources document provides a high-level overview of how the UK authorities have implemented the main CRD II requirements. It also considers current issues relating to the UK implementation of CRD II. For more information about CRD II itself, see Practice note, CRD II. | Practice notes | 30-Nov-2011 |
| 39 | UK implementation of CRD III CRD III (2010/76/EU) (also referred to as CRD3 or CRD 3) is a directive forming part of a sequence of major amendments to the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD). This resources document provides a high-level overview of the UK implementation of CRD III. CRD III made significant changes to the remuneration structures and capital requirements of credit institutions and investment firms, requiring extensive amendments to the FSA's remuneration code. For more information about CRD III itself, see Practice note, CRD III. | Practice notes | 31-Jul-2012 |
| 40 | UK implementation of the Capital Requirements Directive The Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) (CRD) came into force on 1 January 2007. This practice note looks at how the FSA and HM Treasury have implemented the CRD in the UK. This document sets out the position as at 7 January 2008. For information on subsequent reforms to the CRD and their UK implementation, see Practice note, CRD reform: overview. | Practice notes | 07-Jan-2008 |
| 41 | UK money laundering and terrorist financing offences in ... An overview of the money laundering and terrorist financing offences set out in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) respectively. POCA and TACT form part of the UK's anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regime. | Practice notes | Maintained |