Financial Regulation

On December 10 2013, the five US bank regulators issued the long-awaited final rule construing the Volcker Rule. This rule generally prohibits banking entities – a broad term that includes banks, bank holding companies, foreign banks treated as bank holding companies, and their respective affiliates – from (i) engaging in proprietary trading, and (ii) acquiring or retaining ownership interests in, or acting as sponsors to, certain hedge funds and private equity funds.

The final rule incorporates significant changes to the proposed rule, published on November 7 2011, which were made in response to the large number of comments received on the original proposal.

This webcast is will summarise certain impacts of the final rule on banking institutions, including foreign banking organisations. We shall address aspects of the final rule, including:
• the exemption for proprietary trading
• limitations on permitted trading and fund activities
• fund investment and sponsorship
• impact on foreign banking organisations
• definition of a covered fund
• impact on securitisations
• compliance programmes
• conformance period

Speakers are:
• Henry M Fields, Morrison & Foerster
• Oliver I Ireland, Morrison & Foerster
• Kenneth E Kohler, Morrison & Foerster
• Daniel A Nathan, Morrison & Foerster
• Gary Rosenblum, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Danielle Myles, IFLR (moderator)

New York and California CLE credit will be offered for this webinar

Join us for this 60 minute webinar covering prepaid market trends in key regions across the world.

Presented by Peter Sidenius, a Director with Edgar, Dunn & Company and member of the PIF Board of Directors, this webinar is the second in a two part series providing in-depth insights to the global prepaid landscape.

This webinar will compare and contrast key growth areas, dominant segments and market opportunity estimates for selected markets in North America, Asia Pacific and Africa with references to:

•The key drivers of consumer, government and corporate prepaid programmes
•The impact of the regulatory environment on prepaid market growth

A live Q&A session will take place during the broadcast.

About PIF

Prepaid International Forum (PIF) is a not-for-profit trade association established in 2007 to represent the interests of all parties participating in the prepaid economy on a commercial basis. PIF is dedicated to the progression of the prepaid industry and acts as a principal point of liaison between the prepaid economy and government agencies, regulators and the media.

PIF members include issuers of prepaid products and services, Card Schemes, processors and suppliers of services to the industry.

In 2013 PIF announced plans to expand its international presence with the launch of a regional Chapter for the Middle East under the Patronage of TSYS. Learn more

By way of case studies of buildings, Lorna will take you on a whistle-stop tour of 12 common ways to spot ‘the likely suspects’ of where underinsurance is sure to be found.

It is the insured’s responsibility to set the buildings sum insured but how do they know that it is correct? Experience suggests that brokers are asked to advise and clients seek help from inappropriate web based information. Neither is best practice and the former is a sure route to litigation. Even if the insured has built the property themselves, the figure is unlikely to be the correct base on which to set the insurance policy.

The aim of the session is to help insurance professionals highlight cases where a valuation should be an integral part of the risk management strategy. It will broaden the audience’s knowledge so that the conversation about underinsurance does not take place in front of a burnt out building.


About your speaker:
Lorna Harrington is a Director at Barrett, Corp & Harrington Ltd, an RICS regulated surveyor that specialises in insurance valuations for buildings and contents. Prior to setting up BCH in 2006, Lorna had worked at Cunningham Lindsey as a Risk Solutions Manager, AIG Private Client Group as the Residential Services Manager and at Chubb Insurance as an Appraisal Manager for Chubb Masterpiece. Lorna started her career as a Lloyds broker, Bain Hogg (Aon), placing fine art and historic houses business in the London Market.

Her personal business interests are the valuation of listed buildings and historic monuments and helping clients to achieve a more realistic valuation on their contents items. Lorna holds a post graduate diploma in Historic Building Conservation (RICS) and an MA in the History of Art and Architecture.

Three-and-a-half years have passed since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act. Join us as we examine the most significant developments from 2013 including finalisation of the US regulatory capital rules, the regulatory framework for the mortgage market, and the Title VII framework for the regulation of derivatives.

We will also discuss the key rules expected to be finalised in 2014, including:
• the liquidity coverage ratio requirement, a long-term debt requirement, and measures to address reliance on short-term wholesale funding;
• enhanced prudential standards;
• risk retention requirements;
• the Volcker Rule, derivatives push-out and the remaining pieces of the derivatives regulatory regime under Title VII; and
• other significant Dodd-Frank milestones.

Speakers:
• Anna Pinedo, Morrison & Foerster
• James Schwartz, Morrison & Foerster
• Kenneth Kohler, Morrison & Foerster
• Robert Dilworth, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Danielle Myles, IFLR (moderator)

New York and California CLE credit will be offered for this webinar

The issues and insurance premiums surrounding young drivers make sensational news headlines. This webinar gets behind the sensationalism, explains and challenges the status quo, and demonstrates why brokers could be best placed to deliver a solution.

At this webinar you will discover:

- The real factors that influence young driver insurance
- The many roles of telematics and what difference it really makes
- Easy steps that make young drivers safer
- How Aqua is providing a solution for young drivers

Very few sectors and market segments are left untouched by the digital/mobile convergence ecosystem. The retail and distribution sectors are among those where new consumer behaviours and consumption patterns extensively using digital and mobile tools and devices are changing the paradigms. Comparing prices on the go, comparing products on the move, shopping on the go, Research Online, Purchase offline (RoPo), Social Local Mobile commerce/SoLoMo possibly including augmented reality and targeted advertisement are forcing to coordinate far better the physical and virtual distribution, retail and delivery channels.

Big data, which is increasingly linked to the use of mobile devices by adding a geographical component to the transactions, is therefore increasingly a strategic resource not only for mobile operators but also to technology giants such as Google or Amazon, retailers, banks and payment services providers.

Policy and regulation play a vital role here, especially in the EU markets where detailed provisions protect consumer privacy and regulate individual consent to process personal data. The new EU Data Protection Regulation foresees limits as to profiling.

Furthermore, according to the 2009 regulatory framework, a specific regime applies for the use of mobile location data. Because big data enables the making of huge amounts of unprecedented connections between consumer information, its reality inevitably challenges the ‘consent’ concept of the EU data protection rules.

Industry / policy solutions to be discussed:

• effective use of big data in the mobile business ecosystem
• linking data and profiling consumers across different platforms (mobile networks, online email and social network accounts, payment services, retailers)
• reconcile mobile big data with the EU data protection framework
• what do the expected new EU data protection laws mean for mobile data processing?
• how to obtain a valid customer ‘consent’ in the big data context?

For the first time in 20 years COSO has released an updated framework, COSO 2013. The guidance calls for implementation by December 15, 2014. Questions facing many organizations include: How different is the new framework? What do the new principles look like? What should organizations do to ensure compliance with the new principles? What are some of the tasks and challenges companies will be faced with?

During this webinar, our experts will:
• Review what has changed in the COSO Framework.
• Discuss the 17 new principles in COSO 2013.
• Discuss how to start evaluating your organization against the 2013 framework and addressing any gaps identified.
• Describe the tasks and challenges related to implementation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulators are intensifying their evaluation and expectations for Financial Institutions’ internal audit and compliance functions. In addition, organizations will be subject to a slate of new mortgage rules that go into effect in early January. Financial institutions need to understand these changes in order to meet increased regulatory expectations.

During this webinar, we'll highlight key regulatory trends and provide pragmatic insights for most common risk and compliance management practices.

After participating in this webinar, you'll be able to:

• Describe mortgage guidance and rule modifications released by the CFPB in the last few months
• Prioritize key areas of focus for implementation of mortgage rules
• Identify emerging regulatory audit trends and pressures
• Articulate key areas of focus for your 2014 audit plan
• Develop action steps to strengthen your overall internal audit and compliance functions

While HMRC says ‘Tax doesn’t have to be taxing’ - when it comes to expenses, VAT, and HMRC guidelines it's not always clear what best practice is, or even what the rules truly mean.

Join this webinar for helpful advice and guidance about VAT in the real world. It includes real examples, best-practice recommendations and advice on auditing.

David Vine, managing director, UK SMB, will discuss the following topics:
- best practice to ensure HMRC compliance
- real-life VAT situations, including:
- 5 frequently asked questions about VAT
- 4 ways to reclaim VAT on fuel
- 3 ways to avoid VAT fraud
- why you should audit your expenses
- how technology can help.

Achieved price multiples for brokers and MGAs vary greatly.

It is often the case that a vendor can receive a spread of offers where the highest is more than twice the lowest.

This webinar looks at some of the key factors that influence price multiples, and identifies some of the things that vendors should do to prepare themselves ahead of sale in order to ensure that when they come to sell, they achieve a premium price.

About Your Speaker:
Roddy Simpson co-founded Resolution Partners with Hamish Ridgwell in 2001, as a specialist insurance-focused corporate finance advisory firm.

Resolution Partners provides independent, objective and expert corporate finance advice to owner-managed and institutionally owned brokers, MGAs and intermediaries in connection with corporate strategy; mergers, acquisitions, disposals & MBOs; and raising equity & debt capital.

This live webinar will provide an introduction to the new UK regulatory regime for brokers under the supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA").

It will consider the approach and statutory objectives of the FCA and how the new regulatory regime affects brokers and their customers. Particular attention will be paid to the steps taken by the FCA since its creation on 1 April 2013 (including its focus on product development and wholesale markets, its thematic studies in the insurance market and the more robust approach being taken to enforcement).

The webinar will also cover some of the anticipated changes to the regulatory environment for intermediaries at a European level, including the proposed revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive and other European consultations on the distribution of insurance products.

Part of the Payments Guru series this webinar brings you one of the world's leading experts in financial security to examine the balance you should seek to strike between compliance and risk management in your payments platforms. The presenter, Neira Jones, will start you thinking about the beneficial relationship these two functions can have - a topic that will be considered in more practical detail at the one day seminar www.mobilepayments-rri.com

Webinar overview:
The digital economy brings dramatic transformation, creating new business models, supply chains, revenue streams and partnerships across sectors. Whilst security, risk and fraud have traditionally been seen as business inhibitors, we now live in a world where trust is not only at the forefront of everyone’s mind but increasingly a ground for opportunity.

As the physical and digital worlds converge, business leaders seek to shape and transform their organisations whilst safeguarding the trust invested in them by their customers and stakeholders. The environment is challenging:
- The cloud, big data, mobile and digital commerce are creating new consumption habits.
- Mobile is becoming the fastest growing interaction channel and is already encroaching on the traditional physical space, in a commercial sense, but also within the enterprise, as exemplified by BYOD and social media.
- Identity is the new money and privacy is being redefined.
- Innovative digital players are rapidly, and sometimes unexpectedly, disrupting traditional businesses that are too slow to embrace change.
The new market place has no boundaries, consequently nor has cybercrime. In the meantime, the regulatory and compliance landscape has become a maze.

To succeed in today’s world, the new breed of business leaders must understand all the interactions to strike the right balance.

Managing an Enterprise Amazon Web Services budget can be daunting. Your engineers love the flexibility that AWS offers. But your management and finance teams dread the unpredictability of variable cloud costs. They need to know that your costs are under control and that you’re saving money where you can.

In this webinar, we’ll show you the tools and processes used by successful companies to monitor, manage and communicate complicated AWS cost and usage data. You’ll learn how to:

- Avoid surprises by monitoring company-wide AWS spending and usage
- Identify wasted AWS resources and other opportunities to lower costs
- Communicate AWS spending and usage data to decision-makers throughout your enterprise

These days, a greater range of software tools are available to help businesses do more with less than ever before. But, when it comes to expenses only 26% of businesses use any type of automation. In fact, 41% are still relying on paper-based processes!

Setting aside the benefits such as increased visibility, efficiency, and compliance with internal and HMRC policy, what are the main reasons that people are not automating?

Join David Vine, Managing Director, UK SMB on a live webinar as he discusses the reasons why businesses don’t automate their expenses and addresses common concerns like:
1)If it’s not broken, don’t fix it
2)It’s too expensive
3)Implementation is time-consuming and resource-intensive
4)It’s not a priority for the business
5)It won’t help us control our expenses

For more information please visit www.concur.co.uk or read our blog. And if you need any assistance please contact us on 00800 4551 6697.

Strategic and policy evolutions in the Card, Internet and Mobile Payments markets in Europe could have significant impact on the market as well as influence the debates in other regions.

The presentation in July 2013 by the European Commission of the legislative package submitted to the European Parliament and the EU Council for adoption before April 2014 is a milestone that will bring important changes to the industry. It is also complemented by specific actions from the EU Member States Governments particularly the UK.

With significant disruptions in technology, commerce, structure and consumer demands already impacting the payments industry, this regulatory package provides, if adopted, a significant driver for increased competition, opportunities and risks for both incumbent and new market players.

Some of the debates are also relevant for other regions such as Africa, a pioneering area for m-Payments where policy-makers are watching the European Union's actions.

This webinar will provide participants with a high-level strategic overview of some key market, competitive and policy/regulatory insights that are going to shape the future of the payments industry.

China, one of the largest and fastest growing payments markets in the world, is undergoing rapid transformation. Renowned as a particularly difficult market to enter, recent developments make it a hard to ignore opportunity....

The addition of 250 new third party non-bank providers is causing rapid changes in the way people pay. The large providers of online payments and digital wallets are now going offline and entering into the domestic retail payments with innovative mobile payments services.

Meanwhile mobile payment standards are being finalised, and this should address the current problems of highly fragmented markets. There has also been a rapid spread of high speed mobile networks, and cheap smartphone handset to utilise the services.

Previously payment providers grew rapidly in the absence of regulation, reaching a point where they presented a threat to a number of incumbent players. New regulations have forced them now to obtain licences. Already many tranches of licences have been granted; the latest ones even include foreign companies.

So how do you take advantage of this opportune time?
Having attempted to enter this market on behalf of large mobile operator groups, global banks and money transfer operators, we at Shift Thought recognised the need for a navigational tool to steer entrants in their ambitions relating to entry into the China Payments market.

This webinar explores the Chinese payments ecosystem and digital money initiatives. It offers some of the analysis and learning from the recently completed analysis by Shift Thought, published in their latest report “Digital Money in China 2013”. Valuable insight and robust intelligence into a complex and previously perilous market to enter to help you identify, develop or refine your strategy.

Philip Calvert's workshops on how to leverage LinkedIn have produced startling results for professionals and in this special webinar for insurance brokers, he will reveal both proven and little known techniques to enhance your profile, reputation online and ultimately win new business. Philip will also reveal his personal 'killer strategy' for leveraging LinkedIn and wider social media tools.

If you're an insurance broker and are not seeing enough return from using LinkedIn or social media, then don't miss this!

Philip Calvert is a professional speaker on social media and the founder of LifeTalk - an award-winning social networking site for financial advisers. He was recently voted as the Professional Adviser Magazine Personality of the Year in the UK and one of the Top 5 Tweeters about Money.

Federal income tax rules for financial products are constantly developing and changing, and 2013 has been no different.
This webinar will provide an update on recent US tax developments involving structured notes, swaps, options, futures and other financial products.
We will also discuss the mark-to-market system for financial derivatives that is being floated in Congress as part of fundamental tax reform, and consider what it might mean for various types of financial products.

Speakers:
Thomas A Humphreys, Morrison & Foerster
Remmelt A Reigersman, Morrison & Foerster
Danielle Myles, IFLR (moderator)

ETF managed portfolios are funds or mandates that invest at least 50% in ETFs.

In this webinar, Morningstar analyst Gordon Rose will remind listeners of the growth seen in the European ETF market and provide an overview of ETF managed portfolios. In particular, he’ll discuss:
-Strategies that have attracted the most inflows year-to-date;
-What the fund managers say about ETF managed portfolios;
-What he sees for the development of the ETF market in the future.

Getting to grips with expenses

Every business incurs expenses. So how do the opinions differ between those making business expense claims and those that have to deal with the processes behind the scenes?

Join Clive Longbottom of QuoCirca research, as he discusses the research findings of 400 individuals interviewed across a range of organisations in the UK with Concur

On the webinar, Clive will talk about:
•The pain points for both claimants and claims processors
•Where technology helps and hinders
•Where technology is not being used where it could be

All attendees will receive a free copy of the QuoCirca Research Report.

For more information about Concur visit www.concur.co.uk, read our Blog or call 00800 4551 6697.

Don't be caught off guard when your auditors show up and start asking internal control questions that you can't answer. In this roundtable session, listen, learn, and share your experiences around managing your internal control system with your ERP system and what to be prepared for BEFORE the auditors show up. There are always tips to learn from others in the compliance area and this session traditionally has lively dialogue, so don't miss this opportunity to prepare for your next audit.

Aqua household products: It's a lifestyle choice.

Morningstar senior fund analyst Al Kellett will provide an introduction to what the term ‘smart beta’ means, and start off this webinar by taking a look at the smart beta ETF landscape, how big this subset of the ETF market is and how it’s been growing. He’ll then illustrate why it’s hard to define and discuss some of the ways that this strategy is being carried out right now in the marketplace.

As we near the third anniversary of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, many of the principle elements of the regulatory framework for OTC derivatives in the US have been finalised. That being said, given the need for many interpretative releases and no-action or exemptive relief, and various implementation delays, market participants are still grappling with new requirements. This webinar will review the status of:

Swap Dealer and MSP registration;
Swap data recordkeeping;
Swap data reporting; and,
Mandatory clearing;

Panelists will discuss the major unfinished rulemaking areas. These include:

OTC margin requirements;
Swap execution facilities;
Extraterritoriality;
Additional mandatory clearing designations;
SEC Title VII implementation;
Related areas such as the Volcker Rule, Lincoln Amendment; and,
Proposed legislation/future prospects.

Expense management, employee behaviour and the cost to your organisation

The 7th annual Concur Employee Expenses Benchmark Report, known as “the definitive annual report into employee expenses in the UK”, analyses £725 million worth of expenses paid to more than 200,000 UK-based employees over the past three years.

Join David Vine – the report’s author – who will cover:

• How much employees claimed on expenses last year
• Where businesses are cutting costs, and where they are missing a trick
• Which business sectors are leading the way, and which are lagging behind
• How many employees are exaggerating their expenses, and what can be done about it.

All attendees will receive a free copy of the full report, executive summary and the infographic, where you can read the analysis of the findings in more detail.

For more information about Concur visit www.concur.co.uk, or call 00800 4551 6697.