On 29 January 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report on draft implementing technical standards (ITS) produced under Articles 5(3), 10(3) and 13(3) of the Regulation on the cross-border distribution of investment funds ((EU) 2019/1156).
Over recent years, the financial services industry has come to be increasingly defined by, and reliant upon, new technologies and systems. Alongside the opportunities afforded by the increased use of technology, regulators are increasingly aware of the growing threat of disruption caused by technology outages and cyber-attacks.
Whilst EU regulators have traditionally focused on capital and liquidity risks when thinking about resilience of the financial sector, the shift towards an increasingly technology-reliant financial sector, and the high-profile IT outages and cyber-attacks this creates, has increased the focus on other risks to the stability of financial services firms.
Implementation of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive on 10 January 2020 is now fast approaching.
Financial data is one of the most attractive data sets for hackers, so financial institutions are at a high risk of being attacked.
A UK charity has argued that automatic increases in credit limits can worsen an individual’s debt situation and has advocated for a ban on increases in credit without the cardholder’s explicit consent.