The FCA has publishished a Consultation Paper regarding potential changes to its Handbook to accommodate Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), with a view to publishing a Policy Statement mid-2016.
MiFID II will affect firms to varying degrees depending on the service they provide.
If you have not already done so we recommend that senior management familiarise themselves with the ‘MiFID II – what is changing’ section of the FCA website that can be accessed here and the recent consulation paper here.



FCS Transitional Arrangements
Steve Bailey Compliance Update
As you will be aware the Financial Services Authority ceased to be and the Financial Conduct Authority took over the regulation of financial advice firms on 01 April 2013.
The FSA issued PS13/05 last week which includes updated rules and transition arrangements. The policy statement itself is 88 pages but the ‘appendix (3)’ that accompanies it is a mere 1990 pages so you must excuse us for not as yet absorbing every word. The document can be seen here.