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The Pensions Regulator has published its General Code of Practice, setting out its expectations for good governance in occupational, personal and public service pension schemes. The Code has been laid before Parliament and is expected to take effect on 27 March 2024.
Following the entry into force of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 ("FSMA 2023"), the Bank of England, FCA and PRA (the "Regulators") are consulting on new rules and a joint Supervisory Statement on their new powers to regulate critical third parties ("CTPs") which are designated by HM Treasury because of their systemic importance to authorised firms and financial market infrastructures ("FMIs"). This significant expansion of the Regulators' supervisory remits will usher in an entirely new era for CTPs, which (including those that are not based or even incorporated in the UK) will need to comply with a range of rules on governance, operational continuity and regulatory engagement as well as other areas.
Key employment and business immigration developments for employers.
The EU Data Act (EDA), which sets out new data sharing rules that will apply in respect of connected products, came into force on 11 January 2024. While its provisions will not be applicable for a while yet, businesses are likely to need the intervening period to scope out, and plan for, the impact that the EDA will have on their product designs, commercially sensitive information, terms and conditions, costs and GDPR compliance.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That's where the fun is.
After months of negotiations, on 14 December, the EU Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on the principles that will underpin the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ("CS3D").
Welcome to the latest edition of our quarterly disputes newsletter, which covers key developments in the dispute resolution world over the last three months or so.
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A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
The UK government has announced far-reaching changes to the UK's immigration system which are set to be introduced in Spring 2024 as part of a five-point plan. These announcements follow the release of the net migration numbers at the end of November 2023 which showed levels were at an all-time high.
SDR is widely seen as the UK's answer to the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which is currently under review by the European Commission (in fact, we understand that the Commission has an eye on SDR as part of that review). While narrower in scope than SFDR in some respects, it goes further in others insofar as it provides for a set of formal product labels and imposes minimum standards for labelled products and non-labelled products that have ESG-related terms in their names (although some will already be familiar with the FCA's ‘Guiding Principles’ for authorised ESG and sustainable investment funds, which sets out expectations in terms of design, delivery and disclosure in relation to such funds).
Do the policy changes announced by the UK Government in September mean that it is rowing back on its commitment Net Zero? Anyone wanting to understand the UK's Net Zero ambitions may ask how many plans it takes to switch on a light bulb.
On 26 October 2023, the UK's Energy Act 2023 (the "Act") received Royal Assent, becoming one of the largest pieces of energy legislation in a generation. The Act was originally introduced in July 2022 by then Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng as the 'Energy Security Bill'. The Energy Security Bill was reviewed following the resignation of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss before being re-tabled to the House of Lords on 12 December 2022 under its new name, the Energy Act.
Since the publication of the Government's 2017 white paper "Fixing our broken housing market", there has been much discussion about the Government's plans to reform the housing market especially by means of modernising the leasehold sector. The King's Speech on 7 November 2023 included further announcements about leasehold reform.
Find the latest news, views and our analysis of all the key announcements.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.