Futures meaning

Financial services developments ESMA consults on CCP collateral and investment policy standards following EMIR 3 review The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has initiated a public consultation on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) to amend Commission Delegated Regulation 153/2013, following the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 3) review. The call for input invites feedback on: conditions for central counterparties (CCPs) to accept public guarantees, public bank guarantees and commercial bank guarantees as collateral; criteria under which debt instruments qualify as eligible financial instruments within CCP investment policy; highly secured arrangements for emission allowances lodged as margins or default fund contributions. EMIR 3 makes permanent a broader range of guarantees eligible as collateral and extends scope to clients of CCPs that are non-financial counterparties. The consultation closes on 30 April 2026, with ESMA submitting final draft RTS to European Commission by end-2026...

TP ICAP Ltd v NEX Group Ltd [2022] EWHC 2700 (Comm) The claims for breach of warranty stemmed from two probes: one by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission concerning swaps trading linked to bond issuances and another by a Frankfurt public prosecutor targeting a named director of a group entity in relation to cum-ex trading during the relevant period. In essence, the alleged breaches concerned warranties addressing the following: that no group company, officer, or employee had been the subject of any non-routine investigation of any kind by a ‘Governmental Authority’ within the prior 18 months; and that no circumstances existed which could reasonably be expected to result in litigation against a group company where the amount in dispute exceeds £500,000. Those warranties were, in places, qualified by a seller-awareness threshold (here defined as the actual knowledge, after reasonable enquiries, of eight specified individuals) and were restated at completion of the SPA. The first of those warranties was repeated on completion...

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental information ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Waste producer responsibility regimes Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA) Annual Conference Air emissions and climate change DESNZ releases evaluations of CCUS and Industrial Fuel Switching and Hydrogen Supply innovation programmes The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has issued two independent evaluations of its Energy Innovation Programme (EIP). The first evaluation reviews the Carbon Capture and Utilisation Demonstration (CCUD) innovation programme, the Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) Innovation programme, and the Accelerating CCS Technologies (ACT) programme, spanning 2016–21. The second evaluation examines the £21m Industrial Fuel Switching and £33m Hydrogen Supply programmes. Both evaluations consider...

Why is the exemption for financial services important? VAT is a significant issue for organisations in the financial sector, as the provision of certain financial services to customers located in the UK is exempt from UK VAT. This matters because: businesses do not levy VAT on services that fall within the exemption; and those businesses cannot recover input VAT on supplies they receive in the course of making an onward exempt supply The financial services exemption from VAT The UK VAT exemption for financial services stems from the relevant provisions of Council Directive 2006/112/EC (the VAT Directive). These provisions have been enacted into UK law through Schedule 9, Pt II, Group 5 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994), which lists the items that qualify for exemption. This Practice Note concentrates on the exemptions for services within the categories of ‘dealing with money’ (item 1 of Group 5) and ‘operating a bank account’ (item 8 of Group 5). The...

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) What is the SEC? Established by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the SEC came into being as that statute amended and reinforced the Securities Act of 1933, brought in after the 1929 stock market crash. Together, Acts sought to rebuild investor confidence in US capital markets by ensuring investors and the markets received more dependable information and clear, unambiguous rules for honest dealing. The SEC functions as an independent and autonomous government body responsible for supervising US securities markets, applying securities law, and overseeing exchanges that trade shares, options, and other securities...

Terminology In bai salam arrangements, the purchaser is known as the rabb-us-salam, the vendor as the muslam ilaih, the agreed price as the ra’s-ul-mal, and the underlying item as the muslam fih. Owing to the historic foundations of Shari'ah principles—and the jurisprudence informing bai salam—the language largely centres on commodities, particularly within agriculture. As contemporary Shari'ah structures have broadened to suit a wider range of situations, this Practice Note will therefore use ‘assets’ rather than ‘commodities’. It should be noted that not every asset is suitable for a bai salam arrangement (see the section on ‘Excluded assets’ below). The roots of bai salam reach back to the earliest Islamic era, created to assist farmers and agricultural labourers who needed funds to cultivate crops and deliver the harvest. Bai salam is also commonly termed bay salam, bai al-salam, bay al-salam, or simply salam. Impact of differing Shari'ah schools of thought and scholars: a number of Shari'ah-compliant transactions, particularly those that have been in operation for a significant amount of...

To: Newcastle Pension Centre, Futures GroupThe Pension Service9 Post Handling Site AWolverhamptonWV98 1AFUK Date: [ insert date ] Dear Pension Service Our client: [ insert client’s name ] Date of birth: [ insert dd/mm/yyyy ] National Insurance number: [ insert NI number ] We represent [ insert client’s name ] in connection with divorce and financial proceedings. Please find enclosed: a letter of authority executed by our client permitting you to disclose information to us concerning their state pension [ a completed Form BR19 ] [ a completed Form BR20 ] We would be grateful if you would provide us with a [ state pension statement AND/OR cash equivalent (CE) valuation of any additional state pension ]. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully [ firm name ] Enc [ Form BR19 ] [ Form BR20 ]...