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Rachel Lowe

Rachel E. Lowe is a special regulatory counsel in the Corporate Department and a member of the Private Investment Funds Group.

Rachel advises on financial services regulation specializing in sustainable finance and ESG regulation. She has particular expertise in drafting and advising on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Taxonomy Regulation. Rachel has also supported with EU MiFID and AIFMD sustainability updates for clients, including from a governance and organizational perspective, as well as providing drafting and training support. She also advises on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), including analysis of its applicability for large international group structures.

From a UK perspective, Rachel supports clients with the TCFD-related requirements in the Financial Conduct Authority’s ESG Sourcebook and is increasingly engaged on the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR).

More broadly, Rachel has worked with litigation colleagues to assist clients with understanding and mitigating greenwashing-related legal and regulatory risk.

Welcome to the FinReg Monthly Update, a regular bulletin highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial services regulation.

Key developments in October 2025:

Financial Advice / Wealth Management

31 October – FCA Consolidation Review: The UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published its findings following a multi-firm review of consolidation in the

Overview

The UKs Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) today published its multi-firm review of consolidation across the UK financial advice and wealth management sector.

For private equity sponsors, this is the clearest statement yet of how the regulator intends to supervise buy-and-build models. The FCA has not introduced new rules, but it has drawn a line

With six months to go, fund managers should be ramping up their preparations for complying with the legislative changes to EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”), commonly referred to as “AIFMD 2.0”, which will come into effect on 16 April 2026. The majority of the changes will apply to EU authorised alternative investment fund

On October 13, 2025, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (“FCDO”), the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) and His Majesty’s Treasury (“HM Treasury”) confirmed that from January 28, 2026, the UK Sanctions List (“UKSL”) will be the single official source of United Kingdom (UK) sanctions designations.

On 7 October 2025, the FCA published a consultation paper (the “Consultation”) on an industry-wide scheme to compensate motor finance customers who were treated unfairly between 2007 and 2024 (the “Motor Finance Consumer Redress Scheme”). The FCA has also set out steps and its expectations before finalisation of the Motor Finance

On 30 September 2025, the Luxembourg regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (the “CSSF”), published its feedback report (the “Report”) on the European Supervisory and Markets Authority’s (“ESMA”) 2023–2024 Common Supervisory Action (“CSA”) on sustainability risks and disclosures.

The Report notes generally satisfactory compliance for

Welcome to the FinReg Monthly Update, a regular bulletin highlighting the latest developments in UK and EU financial services regulation.

Key developments in September 2025:

30 September

FCA Priorities: The United Kingdom Financial Authority (“FCA”) published a speech given by Lucy Castledine, FCA Director of Consumer Investments, providing an update on the FCA’s