Tag Archives: CMA
CMA updates investment consultancy implementation timetable
CMA has published its administrative timetable for implementation of the investment consultancy and fiduciary management market remedies. There will be: Consultation on the draft Order in February; Notification to the EU of any proposals that would be super-equivalent to MiFID 2 in April; and the statutory deadline for implementing the remedial action in June.
CMA announces reforms to loyalty penalty
After investigating a “super-complaint” raised by Citizens Advice that companies were penalising existing customers by charging them higher prices than new customers, the CMA has today published its 8 recommendations to help resolve this issue in 5 markets. “Loyalty penalty” refers to longstanding customers paying a lot more than new customers for the same services. […]
CMA announces reforms to the investment consultancy and fiduciary management sector
The CMA has announced a range of reforms to the investment consultancy and fiduciary management sector after finding competition problems. This follows an extensive market investigation into the sector which started last year, at the request of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The CMA’s final report sets out a number of changes to deal with its […]
CMA Consults on Annual Plan 2019/2020
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is consulting on its proposed Annual Plan, which sets out its plans and priorities for 2019 to 2020. Subject to the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, the CMA plans to give greater priority to potential market studies and investigations as it considers future work. The themes which it proposes should carry […]
CMA proposes changes to the Payment Protection Insurance Market Investigation Order 2011
In the light of the implementation of IDD, the CMA is proposing to amend the Payment Protection Insurance Market Investigation Order 2011 (Order). Currently, the Order requires PPI providers to send policyholders and Annual Review document, which contains specified information, including a policy summary. The CMA proposes that the Order should mandate that the reference […]
CMA unhappy with ComparetheMarket home insurance deals
The CMA has made a provisional finding that ComparetheMarket includes clauses in many of its contracts with home insurers that breach competition law and could lead to higher premiums for consumers. It says the clauses stop insurers quoting lower prices elsewhere and therefore prevent rival comparison sites and other channels from offering cheaper prices than […]
CMA proposes definitions in investment consultancy study
CMA has published a consultation paper as part of its review of the investment consultancy and fiduciary management services study. The paper contains draft definitions. The proposals define: “investment consultancy service” and “fiduciary management service” The paper also notes that other terms, such as “pension scheme trustees” and “interconnected body corporate” will need separate definition. […]
CMA calls for evidence in response to ‘loyalty penalty’ super-complaint
Following a super-complaint by the Citizens Advice bureau, the CMA has announced that it is seeking views on concerns about long term customers paying more for goods and services. The CMA has identified four key issues to which it invites responses by 14 October 2018: the existence, impact and root causes of a ‘loyalty penalty’ […]
CMA brings forward investment consultant report date
The CMA has announced that it is bringing forward the date for publishing its final report on its investigation into the supply and acquisition of investment consultancy and fiduciary management services in the UK. Having considered the responses to its Provisional Decision Report, the CMA has announced that it will aim to publish its final […]
FCA speaks on intervention testing
Christopher Woolard has spoken on how FCA recognises the value of testing interventions so that regulation works most effectively. He highlighted how what may seem well intentioned and well designed interventions may in fact fail and how FCA has made significant use of behavioural economics to assess what works best. He gave an example of […]
FCA personal and business current account comparison rules come into force
New FCA rules requiring banks to publish information about personal and business current accounts came into force on 15 August 2018. The new rules cover standing data relating to account opening and service availability and major incident metrics. Further rules will require firms to publish information about account opening and debit card replacement from 15 […]
CMA proposes pension investment reforms
CMA has published a report proposing several reforms to allay its concerns over competition in the investment consultancy and fiduciary management sectors. CMA was concerned that: many pension schemes (around half) choose the same provider for fiduciary management that they use for investment consultancy. CMA is concerned the investment consultant can encourage this and it means […]
FCA speaks on asset management
Andrew Bailey has given a regulatory perspective on asset management. His speech considered: market-wide risks: he looked at the growth in the asset management sector and particularly the increase in proportionate growth of the asset management sector over others. open-ended funds: he considered the risks of funds offering daily redemption in illiquid assets which also […]
CMA to continue insurance price comparison website investigation
The CMA has confirmed that it has decided to continue the investigation into a price comparison website’s (PCW) use of certain ‘most favoured nation’ clauses in its contracts with home insurance providers. In the context of PCWs, ‘most favoured nation’ clauses require the provider of a product that wishes to offer their product on the […]
CMA updates on investment consultants investigation
The CMA has published an update of its progress on its market investigation into investment consultants and fiduciary managers. Since it started its reference last September, it has, among other things, visited three large investment consultants and held hearings with a range of providers and stakeholders. It has also completed a large quantitative survey of […]
Digital comparison tools: government responds to CMA market study
Earlier this year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the results of a market study into the use of digital comparison tools in a number of sectors, including car insurance, home insurance and credit cards. The findings of the market study included strong concern about the use of ‘most favoured nation’ clauses, which can […]
CMA consults on its 2018/19 annual plan
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is consulting on its draft annual plan, which sets out its plans and priorities over the next year. Interested parties have the opportunity to provide views and comments on the proposed priorities until 14 January 2018. Over the next year, the CMA is proposing to take a particular interest […]
CMA investigation in the investment consultancy services market
Following the referral of the investment consultancy services market by the FCA to the CMA earlier this year, the CMA is now entering the phase of further information gathering and has updated its investigations page with the responses to issues statement received from the industry. The referral by the FCA followed its Asset Management Market […]
CMA starts investment consultants market investigation
CMA has announced an investigation into the supply and acquisition of investment consultancy and fiduciary management services following a referral by FCA. FCA has decided to reject the undertakings in lieu offered to its by the three largest investment consultants, as it believes the market will benefit from an in-depth review. There were also concerns from […]
FCA publishes consultation paper on current account services
FCA has published a Consultation Paper (CP) on the information provided to customers about current account services. The CP was prompted by CMA’s recommendation that firms should publish objective measures of service performance for both personal current accounts (PCAs) and business current accounts (BCAs) to allow customers to effectively compare products on the market. The […]
CMA publishes Alasdair Smith’s speech on open banking
In a speech published on 30 June 2017, Alasdair Smith discussed: some of the implications of the Open Banking programme which the CMA launched and which is now well under way the implications of Open Banking for regulation the relationship between the CMA and the FCA
FCA speaks on retail banking regulation
Andrew Bailey has spoken at BBA’s retail banking conference on FCA’s perspective on retail banking. He highlighted 3 points: the importance of understanding business models, in the light of Northern Rock. FCA needs to understand where banks earn their returns and how stable they are. He noted that, before the financial crisis, the pressure was […]
CMA publishes final retail banking order
The final order implementing the retail banking reforms has been published. It sets out the timetable for introducing the various remedies the CMA recommended, including: open banking: the largest UK banks must develop and adopt an open API standard between now and Q1 2018; facilitating switching: undertakings on governance and awareness of the CASS service […]
Retail banking market investigation: CMA publishes responses to draft order
The CMA has published responses to the publication of its draft order following the retail market investigation. The responding institutions include: Dansk Bank HSBC Information Commissioner’s Office Santander Tesco Which Some of the concerns raised in the responses address the proposal to introduce a monthly maximum charge in respect of unauthorised overdraft charges, the definition of […]
CMA concerned about cashpoint merger
CMA has made a provisional finding that the acquisition by Diebold of Wincor may reduce competition in the supply of cashpoints in the UK. It invites comments on its provisional findings by 10 January 2017.
CMA publishes draft Order following retail banking market investigation
In August 2016 the CMA published the report on its market investigation into the supply of retail banking services. Following the proposals of that Report, the CMA has published a draft Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 which includes measures that seek to drive the market towards ‘Open Banking’: using technology to provide customers with more control over their […]
FCA publishes interim asset management market study
The FCA has today published interim report MS15.2.2 in connection with their Asset Management Market Study. The FCA’s chief objective for the market study was to ensure that the market works well and that the investment products consumers use offer value for money. The market study was launched in November 2015 in response to a number of concerns […]
FCA and Treasury respond to CMA retail banking market report
In August 2016, the CMA published its final report following its investigation into the competitiveness of retail banking market (Report), which focused on personal current account and SME customers. The Report found that there were elements of the market that were having an adverse effect on the promotion of competition, and proposed a package of […]
BBA publishes BCA standardisation proposal
CMA has updated its webpage on the retail banking and business current account (BCA) investigation. One of the new papers covers BBA’s proposals to standardise BCA opening procedures. The proposal covers the core set of standard information and evidence requirements to open a BCA (the Standard Information Set); the categories of SMEs which the Standard […]