Client Money rules take full force

Now we’re at the end of June, all of the client money rules have past their implementation dates – so the whole CASS sourcebook is now live.

We’re continuing to assist firms in their ongoing implementation, especially in training, both through CISI and directly.

We’ve also carried out work for clients who wanted their CASS Resolution Pack reviewed. Whilst these Packs are intended for use by an Insolvency Practitioner, they are increasingly the first thing that the FCA will ask for when carrying out their own visit.

And why not? After all, the CASS RP should tell FCA everything they need to know about how your firm deals with client money and assets.

And inevitably, there will, unless you’re on top of it, be documents that won’t open and names that should have changed. So don’t think that your CASS RP will only be looked at in the event of an insolvency – keep it up to date!

Client Money Trust letters

Everyone will now have these new format template-based letters in place for their client money accounts. It’s now a question of keeping them up to date.

It’s clear that if you migrate one of your many client money accounts from one bank to another that you need two new letters – one for the new bank and a new letter for the old bank, showing that that account is no longer in their “list” of accounts. FCA has also made clear that if you are just closing say, your $ account and are not re-opening it elsewhere, that you don’t need to re-paper your existing bank for an account that is no longer there.

But when you’re opening a new account at your existing client money bank, do you have to re-paper all the existing accounts to leave you with one letter, or can you just send them a new letter for the single new account, and have two letters?

Notification of MiFID authorisation emails

Many investment firms will by now have received these circulars from FCA. Their purpose is to show on the web site of ESMA, the European Securities Regulator, what the firm’s existing permissions are, in MiFID-speak.

Although they look complex, these emails are in fact relatively easy to complete. We have yet to come across a case where the “mapping” from FCA permissions to MiFID activities is incorrect. The on-line response form is similarly accessible.

Nonetheless, if you’d like assistance in completing your firm, do get in touch.

On this point, the rules are silent, so in fact either practice would be consistent with the rules. What firms do will depend on the relationship they have with their bank and how easy it is for them to re-paper all the accounts. Our recommendation is to re-paper all, thereby fulfilling the separate obligation to review the client money letter at least annually.