Yesterday, the European Banking Authority (which has moved from London to Paris because of Brexit) unfurled a plan for the implementation of the EU's Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) and Investment Firms Directive (IFD), along with its first set of proposals for rules in accordance with those laws.

The IFD/IFR package came into force in December and will apply to British investment firms with "MiFID [the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive] permissions" later this month.

The introduction of IFR/IFD will include regulations to do with reporting, capital requirements, disclosures, remuneration, ESG and supervisory review.

Rohini Gupta, a managing consultant at Bovill, commented: “The impact of IFD/IFR will be felt most intensely in the UK, as more than half of the total population of EU MiFID investment firms are authorised or regulated here. The investment firm review is wide-ranging in its influence and will affect nearly 3,700 UK firms.

“The FCA has indicated that it intends to follow these rules regardless of Brexit, so UK firms should start to prepare themselves for the upcoming reforms. The EBA’s roadmap shows these are the first four consultations out of 33 that will impact a number of areas related to prudential treatment of investment firms, so these new rules will be a really significant regulatory theme over the coming months and years.”