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John Verwey

John Verwey is a partner in the Private Funds Group. John advises on a wide number of regulatory issues at a national UK and European level, including firm authorisations, appointed representative arrangements, change in control, market abuse. He represents a variety of clients that range from small start-up fund managers to established global fund advisers and managers.

A particular area of focus for John is Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II).  This includes advising on pre-marketing and marketing strategies for fund managers, advising on the Level One and Lever Two requirements under AIFMD and implementing UK rules and legislation, and advising on the organizational and conduct of business requirements under MiFID II.

The deadline for EU member states (‘‘Member States’’) to implement the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) into national laws was 6 July 2024. Under EU infringement procedures, the European Commission (‘‘Commission’’) may now take legal action against Member States for failing to implement EU laws. The Commission announced that

In July 2024, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its “Quarterly Consultation Paper No. 44” (“Consultation”), which proposed introducing a requirement to provide criminal background checks on owners and controllers at the authorisations gateway.

Background

The FCA currently employs a risk-based approach to conducting criminal background checks, whereby such checks

This post is an update of a previous post.

On 27 March 2024, government legislation (Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Order 2024 (SI 2024/301), the “March Order”) came into force to reinstate the eligibility criteria to qualify as a high net worth or

An upward trend…

The “retailisation” of private funds has been one of the industry’s most significant trends in recent years, with fund managers seeking sources of capital beyond their usual institutional, professional and sophisticated investor base. “Retail” capital (in particular, private wealth) is already a key source of fundraising for many alternative asset managers but

Welcome to the Regulation Round Up, a regular bulletin highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial services regulation.

Key developments in August 2024:

22 August

Overseas Funds Regime: The FCA updated its webpage on the overseas funds regime to confirm that it will open the gateway to new schemes on 30 September 2024.

ESMA has translated their Guidelines on ESG-related fund names, which has started the clock for applicability. For information on the asset allocation thresholds and the exclusionary criteria, alongside the funds in scope and supervisory expectations, please see our Q&A here.

For new funds, the Guidelines will apply from 21 November 2024.
For existing funds

Introduction

On 30 July 2024, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a number of updates in relation to its work on complaints against motor finance firms.

In particular, the FCA published an update announcement on its website and a consultation paper (CP24/15) (the “Consultation Paper”), on a potential extension

Welcome to the UK Regulation Round Up, a regular bulletin highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial services regulation.

Key developments in July 2024:

31 July

Consumer Duty: The FCA published a speech by Sheldon Mills, FCA Executive Director of Consumers and Competition, on the Consumer Duty, which is now in force across

Background

On 17 July 2024, the King of the United Kingdom delivered a speech to mark the opening of a new UK Parliament (the “Speech”). The Speech set out the new UK Government’s priorities, following their election victory. This included the proposed introduction of the Football Governance Bill (the “Bill”), to

Background

On 19 July 2024, the European Commission published final regulatory technical standards (the “RTS”) in respect of Regulation EU/2023/606 relating to the European long-term investment fund (“ELTIF 2.0”). This follows various back and forth between the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) and the European Commission (which we