Sheldon Mills News

Firms have been told to make changes by 29 February 2024.

British investment platforms Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell saw their shares plunge on Tuesday after a U.K. regulator warned 42 firms that it may intervene on fees and interest charges.

The UK’s central bank and the financial regulator have both proposed plans to regulate stablecoins in discussion papers, published Monday.

In the paper, the BoE said that lenders will be pushed to make it clear to customers that stablecoins are not standard deposits, which are guaranteed against bank failures.

The UK Treasury Treasury is currently considering making changes to the payments legislation to enable retail payments for goods and services to be made using fiat-backed stablecoins. This includes an option the Treasury are exploring to allow certain stablecoins which are issued outside of the UK to be used for payments. The FCA’s Discussion Paper explores the proposed regulation around the issuance and custody of fiat-backed stablecoins under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the use of these stablecoins as a means of payments under the Payment Services Regulations. Sheldon Mills, executive director, consumers and competition, FCA, says: “Stablecoins have the potential to make payments faster and cheaper for all, and that’s why we want to offer firms the ability to utilise this innovation safely and securely.

While the FCA impressed upon the committee to focus on these “key” areas, it also informed them that it would now only be writing to it once every couple of years versus the current annual rate.

Andrew Griffith (pictured) is the economic secretary to the Treasury.

According to an RNS statement, Alison Rose agreed with 'mutual consent' to step down as chief executive, with immediate effect.

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cryptoassets will get a 24-hour «cooling-off» period for the first time from October under tougher marketing rules unveiled by the financial regulator on Thursday. Cryptoassets, such as bitcoin, have little direct regulation globally, but regulators are taking a closer look after the downfall of FTX last year, which left millions of investors nursing losses totalling billions of dollars, some of them in Britain. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said «refer a friend» bonuses for crypto buyers would also be scrapped and that those promoting such assets would have to put in place clear risk warnings and ensure adverts were clear, fair and not misleading. The new crypto rules, which are similar to those imposed by the FCA last year to tackle advertising for high-risk investment in mainstream finance, come as Britain plans to regulate cryptoassets under a new financial services law this year.

In a June 8 announcement, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that from Oct. 8, advertisers of crypto services in the U.K. would be subjected to stricter regulations.

Set to come into force in October, the new rules mean crypto firms must ensure that people have the appropriate knowledge and experience to invest in crypto. Those promoting crypto must also put in place clear risk warnings and ensure adverts are clear, fair and not misleading, similar to the rules introduced by the FCA last year to tackle misleading financial advertisements of high-risk investments. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has previously banned several crypto firms’ promotions for being misleading and irresponsible.