Regulatory Feed Summary 27 - 31 October
28/10/2025 - Bank of England
PS18/25 Retiring the refined methodology to Pillar 2A near final
Policy statement 18/25
28/10/2025 - Bank of England
PS20/25 The Strong and Simple Framework: The simplified capital regime for Small Domestic Deposit Takers (SDDTs) near-final
Policy Statement 20/25
28/10/2025 - Bank of England
SoP5/15 The PRA's methodologies for setting Pillar 2 capital
Statement of Policy 5/15
28/10/2025 - Bank of England
SS31/15 - The Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP)
Supervisory statement 31/15
28/10/2025 - Bank of England
PS19/25 Restatement of CRR requirements 2027 implementation near-final
Policy statement 19/25
31/10/2025 - UK FCA
FCA publishes review of consolidation in financial advice and wealth management sector
The review focused on groups acquiring financial advisers and wealth management firms. It examined how these groups manage risks, debt, governance and integration during and after acquisitions. The review found consolidation can support efficiency and sustainable growth. But, if not effectively managed, consolidation could lead to poor outcomes for consumers, employees and the wider financial system. Good practice identified in the review included clear group structures, strong governance, effective monitoring of group debt and comprehensive risk management across all entities. Firms that demonstrated well-planned acquisition strategies and thorough integration planning were also more likely to deliver positive outcomes for customers. The review also highlighted areas with greater potential for harm. These included how groups were structured and how group debt was guaranteed. In addition, the review highlights the importance of the effective management of group-wide risks and due diligence in the acquisition process. We encourage firms to consider the findings of the review, assess their own arrangements and make any needed adjustments to their structures and processes. Read the multi-firm review.
30/10/2025 - UK FCA
FCA warns investors in CFDs risk losing out on protections
People who invest in Contracts for Difference (CFDs) are being urged not to give up vital consumer protections by the FCA. CFDs are a way to bet on the price of a share or asset moving up or down without owning it. The FCA is concerned that firms are using high-pressure techniques to encourage investors to claim they are professional clients, putting them at risk of losing more money than they can afford.
The retail client protections, including leverage limits and client loss protections, prevent nearly 400,000 people a year from risking more than their original stake in CFDs and provide between £267m and £451m worth of protection. The FCA has also found investors are being targeted by finfluencers, who may not make it clear that they are promoting unregulated firms operating offshore. Some of these finfluencers promise consumers unrealistic returns if they copy trades, invest in managed accounts or pay for daily trading tips. Over 90,000 people have lost around £75m over a 4-year period in this way at just one firm.Firms must not push elective professional or redirection promotions onto their retail clients. The FCA will take action against firms breaking the rules.
The FCA will continue to target finfluencers touting financial services products illegally. Mark Francis, director of sell-side markets at the FCA, said: 'CFDs are complex, high-risk products. The protections given to retail investors under our rules save UK consumers millions each year. We are concerned that some firms are trying to get people to invest more than they can afford to lose. Investors should be very wary of CFD firms attempting to bypass our rules in this way and of those on social media touting investments which look too good to be true.'Under the Consumer Duty, consumers must receive communications they understand and products and services that meet their needs and offer fair value. The FCA's InvestSmart campaign has useful tools to help people make more informed investment decisions.
28/10/2025 - UK FCA
FCA seeks views on new short selling regime
We're asking for feedback on proposals for a new short selling regime. Short selling can play an important role by supporting price formation, providing liquidity, and facilitating risk management. Our consultation aims to support growth by removing unnecessary barriers which might inhibit or discourage short selling while retaining sufficient visibility and controls over short selling to manage any risks to support orderly and effective financial markets. Together with the government's legislative framework set out in January 2025, our proposals include: Aggregated net short position disclosures: a new model will combine, anonymise, and disclose, all the individual positions reported above the 0.2% reporting threshold. Position reporting: extend the deadline for firms submitting position reports by reducing the time required for the regulator to process and provide guidance on how firms determine the issued share capital of companies to calculate their positions. Market maker notifications: streamline and automate our systems for receiving position reporting and market maker exemption notifications to make submissions easier, quicker and less burdensome. Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said: 'These proposed changes are another important milestone in our drive to become a smarter regulator and to support growth.' Aggregated net short positions and simplified processes for reporting will enhance and streamline the short selling regime in the UK, reducing burdens for capital market participants while ensuring the market still gets the transparency it needs.'
27/10/2025 - UK FCA
FCA welcomes legislation to bring ESG ratings providers into regulation
We welcome the government's legislation to bring Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings providers into our remit. This marks a significant milestone in the UK's commitment to enhancing transparency and trust in this market. ESG ratings continue to play a critical role in influencing investment and capital allocation decisions. The legislation, which was broadly supported by the industry, will provide us with the necessary powers to regulate ESG ratings providers an important step towards ensuring that there are transparent, reliable and comparable ESG ratings. In parallel with the Government finalising its legislation, we have been developing our regime for ESG ratings.
Now that the legislation has been laid before Parliament, we intend to consult on our proposed rules before the end of the year. We are committed to working with industry, government and wider stakeholders to ensure our approach to regulation is practical, proportionate and supports innovation. This is an opportunity to raise the bar for transparency and trust, while ensuring the market remains competitive and resilient. Our proposals, informed by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) recommendations, will focus on four key areas: transparency, governance, systems and controls, and conflicts of interest. We will also be producing guidance to help firms assess whether their activities will fall under regulation and require our authorisation. This will support our work to enhance the UK's reputation as a global hub for sustainable finance attracting investment and supporting growth and innovation.
27/10/2025 - UK FCA
Information for firms looking to offer crypto exchange traded notes
Consumers can now access crypto exchange trade notes (cETNs), with several products available. We lifted the ban on retail access to certain cETNs on 8 October. Retail consumers can now access cETNs when they are listed on our Official List and admitted to trading on a UK Recognised Investment Exchange. Prospectuses must be reviewed and approved before the products are available. We had already been reviewing retail crypto ETN prospectuses in preparation for the 8 October lifting of the ban. Crypto ETNs are complex products, and firms should ensure they have the correct permissions to offer them to consumers. Where they are planning to offer them, we ask firms to inform their FCA supervisory contact. These products are categorised as Restricted Mass Market Investments (RMMIs). Firms who offer them will need to comply with the financial promotion rules. This means firms must:
Firms offering cETNs will also need to comply with other rules, including the Consumer Duty. This includes provisions requiring firms to:Act to deliver good outcomes for consumers. Enable and support consumers to pursue their financial objectives. Act in good faith towards consumers and avoid causing them foreseeable harm. Identify a target market of consumers for a cETN, design the product to meet the needs, characteristics and objectives of that target market, and take reasonable steps to ensure a cETN is distributed to the target market. Ensure that cETNs provide fair value to consumers in the target market. Make sure consumers are given the information they need, at the right time, and presented in a way they can understand. If a firm wishes to apply for authorisation or new permissions to offer cETNs, they can request a pre-application meeting through our pre-application support service. We have outlined our crypto roadmap (PDF), setting out plans to bring crypto assets into our regulation.
More information
We recently published a consultation (CP25/25) on proposals for the application of our Handbook to regulated cryptoasset activities.
27/10/2025 - ECB SSM
Anneli Tuominen: Bank governance in a changing risk landscape
Speech by Anneli Tuominen, Member of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the "Board of the Future" seminar, jointly organised by the European University Institute and the ECB
27/10/2025 - ECB SSM
Frank Elderson: Making supervision simpler: the role of supervisory guides
Keynote speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the ECB and EUI Banking Governance High-Level Seminar "Board of the Future"
29/10/2025 - Japan FSA
Publication,FSA publishes Weekly Review No.438
No summary available. Please follow the link for details
29/10/2025 - Japan FSA
Councils,The ninth meeting of the Working Group on Disclosure and Assurance of Sustainability-related Financial Information (of the Financial System Council)
No summary available. Please follow the link for details
31/10/2025 - EBA
Persistent differences in national loan recovery outcomes reinforce case for EU insolvency harmonisation, the EBA analysis finds
The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its second Report on the benchmarking of national loan enforcement frameworks across the EU Member States. The Report, which was compiled in response to the EU Commission's call for advice in the context of the Savings and Investment Union's agenda, calculates the benchmarks for loan recovery outcomes for the EU 27 aggregates and for the individual Member States. The results highlight a high degree of dispersion among different categories of loans, and across the EU27 Member States, for most of the benchmarks and loan categories. In addition, the Report underscores the importance of certain elements related to both the legal framework and the judicial capacity to improve the recovery outcomes.
30/10/2025 - EBA
The EBA advises the European Commission on the foundations of the new anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism regime
The European Banking Authority (EBA) today responded to the European Commission's Call for Advice on the key components of the new anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework. This advice puts forward a risk-based and proportionate approach that will support the swift and effective start of the Anti-Money Laundry Authority (AMLA) operations.
29/10/2025 - EBA
The EBA publishes its final draft technical standards on criteria to assess the materiality of CVA risk exposures arising from securities financing transactions
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) to specify the conditions and the criteria to assess whether the credit valuation adjustment (CVA) risk exposures arising from fair-valued securities financing transactions are material, as well as the frequency of that assessment.
30/10/2025 - EU Commission
Commission adopts equivalence decision for New Zealand's financial benchmarks
This equivalence decision ensures that from 1 January 2026, when new rules under BMR for third country benchmarks take effect, EU banks and investment funds can continue using New Zealand regulated benchmarks, especially those that are widely used in the EU.
29/10/2025 - EU Commission
Questions and answers on the Solvency II delegated regulation
Questions and answers on the Solvency II delegated regulation
29/10/2025 - EU Commission
Questions and answers on legislative programmes under the Capital Requirements Regulation
Questions and answers on legislative programmes under Article 133(5) of the CRR
29/10/2025 - EU Commission
Statement on the sixth Sanctions Coordinators Forum
Today, EU Sanctions Envoy, David O'Sullivan, convened the sixth Sanctions Coordinators Forum, gathering highâlevel representatives from all EU Member States and a broad coalition of international partners. Representatives of the Government of Ukraine joined for a dedicated session.
31/10/2025 - ESMA
ESMA publishes data for quarterly bond liquidity assessment
ESMA publishes data for quarterly bond liquidity assessment 31 October 2025
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, has today published the new quarterly liquidity assessment of bonds.
The quarterly liquidity assessment of bonds will be discontinued following the current publication, considering that new transparency requirements in respect to bonds will start applying from 2 March 2026. Further details are provided on the relevant webpages of the calculations.
Bonds quarterly liquidity assessment
ESMA has published the latest quarterly liquidity assessment for bonds available for trading on EU trading venues. For this period, there are 1,195 liquid bonds subject to MiFID II transparency requirements.
ESMA's liquidity assessment for bonds is based on a quarterly assessment of quantitative liquidity criteria, which includes the daily average trading activity (trades and notional amount) and the percentage of days traded per quarter. Additional data and corrections submitted to ESMA may result in further updates within the quarter, published in ESMA's Financial Instruments Transparency System (FITRS), which shall be applicable the day following publication.
The full list of assessed bonds is now available through FITRS in the XML files with publication date 31 October 2025 through the Register web interface.
ESMA also publishes two completeness indicators related to bond liquidity data.
The transparency requirements for bonds deemed liquid today will exceptionally apply from 17 November to 1 March 2026. The extended application dates reflect the application of the new RTS 2 provisions (see ESMA's public statement on the application of the revised rules on non-equity transparency). The quarterly liquidity assessment will not be performed in the future.
Further information:
Cristina Bonillo
Senior Communications Officer press@esma.europa.eu
27/10/2025 - ESMA
ESMA publishes latest edition of its newsletter
ESMA publishes latest edition of its newsletter 27 October 2025
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, has today publishedâ¯itsâ¯latest edition of theâ¯Spotlight on Marketsâ¯Newsletter.
Your one-stop shop in the world of EU financial markets, in its September and October edition, highlights ESMA's 2026 Work Programme. Next year's work will focus on delivering on core policy and supervisory mandates while contributing to ambitious reforms for more integrated, accessible, and innovative EU capital markets.
The ESAs have published their fourth annual report on voluntary disclosures of principal adverse impacts (PAIs) under the SFDR, noting continued progress in transparency at both entity and product levels. The report includes practical recommendations to enhance disclosure quality and regulatory oversight.
In parallel, ESMA's second consolidated report on sanctions and measures imposed across Member States in 2024 reveals over 970 actions, with fines exceeding â¬100 million. The data highlights enforcement trends and discrepancies, contributing to greater transparency and supervisory convergence across the EU.
Amid heightened global uncertainty and trade tensions, EU securities markets experienced notable volatility in the first half of 2025. ESMA's second risk monitoring report of the year provides a detailed update on structural developments and the performance of key financial market sectors during this period.
Other key publications: