Regulation
Dear CEO…
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a Dear CEO letter on Consumer Duty closed products (asset managers), including priority areas for firms to consider and expectations for any areas of non-compliance. For more detail, it’s also worth looking at the letter to other sectors, such as the one for investment firms.
Disclosure exposure
In response to the FCA’s proposal to publicise enforcement investigations (not linked), 16 financial services trade associations appealed to the chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, to intervene. FT Adviser has the details and suggested alternatives.
Subsequently, Sarah Pritchard, executive director for markets and international at the FCA, commented at the City & Financial Global’s City Week 2024 conference that the FCA will ‘engage further with industry and explore thoroughly the concerns and evidence shared with us, with an aim of reaching a broad consensus.”
Strategy shambles
Ignites Europe reports on the acrimony that the EU’s retail investment strategy has fallen into. It also reports on further comment on the strategy from Furio Pietribiasi, chief executive officer of the Irish fund business of Italian banking group Mediolanum, voicing his concerns on pricing benchmarks on funds.
Sustainable Investment / ESG
End name
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released its Final Report on Guidelines for funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms.
Investor interest
Boring Money‘s new Sustainable investing 2024: Demand and Disclosure research explores consumer awareness and interest in sustainable investments over the past year. Ignites Europe reports on its findings on investor understanding (or lack thereof) of the FCA‘s four sustainable labels coming in with the anti-greenwashing rules at the end of this month.
Governance
AI oversight
Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) has created a new non-voting board observer position for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Observer, named Aiden Insight. Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance delves into this and the background of AI on boards.
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