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UK's Financial Services Authority Update On Lehmans-Backed Structured Products
September 11, 2009-Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Financial Ombudsman Service (Ombudsman) have been looking at the potential detriment this has caused for investors in the UK structured products market.
In May, the FSA and Ombudsman agreed that the issues relating to Lehmans-backed structured products should be considered under the "Wider Implications" process, in order to allow the FSA to explore all options to achieve the best outcome for consumers.
The FSA has now gained enough information from its review to enable it to move forward and believes it is now appropriate to lift the hold on individual adjudications of complaints on an immediate basis.
The FSA will report back on the outcomes of its review in more detail in October but confirms that it will be taking action against firms as a result of the findings of the review.
Dan Waters, retail policy director at the FSA, said: “This is a hugely complex area and during our review we have looked at promotional literature, clarity of information, quality of advice, sales systems and controls, involving plan managers, providers and advisers.
“There is still much for us to do and we will be outlining some of the findings of the review next month in more detail, but I can confirm that we have found serious issues and will be taking action against firms.
“In light of the progress we have made, we believe our regulatory action can now progress alongside the Ombudsman adjudicating on individual complaints without prejudicing either, so individual cases referred to the Ombudsman can now proceed.”
Background
1. The Wider Implications process is intended to provide a transparent means of bridging potential regulatory gaps or overlaps between the FSA, Ombudsman and Office of Fair Trading on 'significant issues', including those that may give rise to widespread consumer detriment.
2. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
3. The FSA aims to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve its business capability and effectiveness
Scoach Introduces Exchange Trading for Foreign Currency Products – HSBC Trinkaus Issues First Products
Products in various foreign currencies can be traded on the Frankfurt certificate exchange, Scoach, with immediate effect. These currencies include the US dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona.
September 11, 2009-- HSBC Trinkaus is the first issuer to take advantage of the new service to list certificates denominated in foreign currencies on a German exchange. Investors currently have the choice of four products; there are two products denominated in Swiss francs (CHF) – a capped bonus certificate and a protect index bond on the Swiss SMI® exchange barometer, and for investors with US dollar (USD) accounts, the capped bonus certificate and protect index bond on the S&P 500®, both denominated in USD.
"These issues are not new product structures, they are process innovations, as was the case with the intraday issues we introduced a few months ago," said Heiko Weyand, Head of Product at HSBC Trinkaus. He went on to explain an additional advantage for investors, "Because the securities are listed in the currency of their respective underlyings, it is easier for investors to monitor their performance than if they were listed in euros."
The foreign currency products may be of interest to investors with accounts in USD or CHF who wish to trade via a German exchange. Since the products are traded on the Scoach certificate exchange, they are subject to German stock exchange regulators. "The supervision of trading provides additional security for investors," said Christian Reuss, CEO of Scoach Europa AG. "Trading via an exchange is often essential to asset managers in particular."
EU plans for hedge fund rules ‘flawed’
September 11, 2009--One of the leading proponents of the the European Union’s controversial proposals to regulate hedge funds and private equity firms has backed down and conceded the need for a full impact assessment of the changes.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, architect of the regulation and self-confessed “bogeyman” of London’s alternative investment sector, took on his staunchest critics face-to-face in London on Friday, acknowledging that it would be “foolish” to push ahead without more consultation.
European companies to pay dear for OTC derivatives
September 11, 2009-European companies are certain to face higher costs for using over-the-counter derivatives as a result of proposed European Commission reforms for such markets in the wake of the crisis, a senior Brussels official said Friday.
The remarks, by Mario Nava, head of the Commission’s financial market infrastructure unit, will disappoint some of Europe’s biggest companies. They highlight the tensions emerging between regulators and policymakers on one hand and business and market participants on the other as it becomes clearer how far public authorities are likely to go in reforming financial markets to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis.
Regulatory Compliance - MIFID-Thomson Reuters
September 10, 2009--From March 2009 the Monthly Equity Market Share reports are being sourced from our recently launched Equity Market Share Reporter. Both the Volume and Turnover data are now calculated based on each individual trade reported by all European Exchanges, MTFs, and OTC trade reporting venues rather than the accumulated volume figures for each stock as published by the Exchanges. Trades reported after trade-date are now reflected in these statistics. We are also able to separately identify the trading volumes of the Independent Dark Pools.
View the 2009 Market Share Report (Jan - August) XLS
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