Katten's UK Financial Insights is a monthly newsletter that highlights key notable developments potentially impacting financial markets and funds in the UK and Europe.
To read other editions of UK Financial Insights by Katten, please click here.
DEI and the dangers of too high demands and too little performance
Hosted by Neil Robson
Building a company with a diverse employee base is no longer a nice thing to do; This is necessary in terms of both talent retention and customer retention. In the latest episode of (mis)Conduct, Money & Reputation, financial markets and funds partner Neil Robson and David Masters from reputation specialists Lansons/Team Farner tackle the increasingly complicated area of diversity, equity and inclusion. They address a range of issues, from the dangers of excessive claims and under-delivery to the increasing scrutiny of non-financial misconduct. The pair also discuss the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) proposals to require financial services firms to implement evidence-based diversity and inclusion strategies that take into account each firm's progress in these efforts. Read more about this podcast episode, “Misconduct, Money and Reputation.”
The UK Government grants equivalence to EEA UCITS funds under the Overseas Funds Regime
By Neil Robson, Christopher Collins, Ciara McBrien
On January 30, the UK government published a written statement granting an equivalence decision for European Economic Area (EEA) companies to collectively invest in transferable securities (UCITS funds) under the UK Overseas Funds Regime (OFR). This means that, subject to the introduction of additional legislation, EEA UCITS funds can be marketed in the UK without having to comply with additional UK requirements. Read more about the OFR in the UK.
M&A in the UK and Europe: predictions for 2024
By Oliver Williams, Edward Tran, Alex Potten, George Warren
The Corporate team shares their top five predictions for M&A activity in 2024 in the UK and Europe. Despite a challenging 2023 and increasing opportunities for disruption this year, the future promises an M&A upturn across Europe and the UK. Read Katten's guide.
Neil Robson comments on the use of AI for ESG reporting
Financial markets and funds partner Neil Robson spoke to Compliance Week about how AI could be a useful tool for analyzing a company's data for its ESG reporting and disclosure. This has led to discussions about whether artificial intelligence (AI) is a viable solution for companies that need to analyze and present data in accordance with mandatory and voluntary reporting standards. Read more about Neil's comments.
SEC adopts rules for executing securities swaps similar to those of CFTC
By Carl Kennedy, James Brady, Nathaniel Lalone, Alexander Kim
The Financial Markets and Funds team's Futures and Derivatives Law Report, published in The Journal on the Law of Investment & Risk Management, provides an in-depth analysis of Regulation SE, issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Commission) adopted final rules establishing its trading regime for security-based swaps under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Companies operating in the regulated swaps market will note many similarities between the SEC regime and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Swap Execution Facilities (SEFs) regime. Our attorneys highlight the Regulation SE compliance schedule and the similarities and differences between the regulations in a rule-by-rule table. Read Katten's article.
According to the Italian regulator, ChatGPT violates EU data protection regulations
By Sarah Simpson
OpenAI came into the spotlight last year thanks to the popularity of its generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. While it's expected that with fame comes both praise and criticism, the balance at OpenAI leans more towards the latter – significantly with a potential cost of either €20 million or 4 percent of its global annual revenue (whichever is greater). When Italy's data protection authority (Garante) imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT in March 2023, a problem was expected to be brewing – the extent of which was previously unclear. Garante revealed, not yet fully, that OpenAI violated the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), likely because ChatGPT was trained by ingesting bulk data from the Internet. Read more about possible AI conflicts with the GDPR.
Generative AI – friend or enemy of data protection?
By Sarah Simpson
Generative AI is a hot topic in data protection because it brings new challenges to protecting personal data. Due to the rapid growth of AI systems that generate and process data, including personal data, it is critical that companies using such systems do so in accordance with their GDPR obligations. Earlier this month, the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), launched a consultation series on generative AI, analyzing how data protection laws should apply to the development and use of AI. Read more about ICO concerns about generative AI.
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