The European Commission’s decision to kick the EU social taxonomy into the long grass was greeted with disappointment by the sustainable finance community, but more importantly it might accentuate the slide towards greater fragmentation.

The UK regulatory furniture could face its biggest reorganisation in over a decade if Liz Truss replaces Boris Johnson as prime minister, potentially ushering in a period of deep uncertainty for the Bank of England.

Overly generous risk weightings on certain transactions, a lack of data and stress testing loopholes means that some global systemically important banks could get hit by another Archegos-type failure.

Despite EU agreement on its taxonomy for sustainable investment, it may not only prove to be ineffective in driving a green transition, but is potentially shrouded in legal uncertainty. 

There is anecdotal evidence that investment bankers in the UK are piling into physical bullion for their personal portfolios due to fears over counterparty risk in the financial system, severe inflation and political uncertainty.

The introduction of the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR) back in 2016 struck fear into many bankers with its onerous requirements and penalties. However, recent research suggests that the conduct regime is almost toothless. 

The delayed consumer protection rules will have a very significant impact on firms serving the UK financial retail market by imposing increased accountability and compliance oversight obligations.

The UK’s long-awaited finance bill was supposed to unshackle the City of London from ‘unnecessary’ red tape, much of it inherited from the EU, but in the end it left the financial services sector underwhelmed and disappointed.

It turns out that crypto is not an independent parallel financial system after all and is closely tethered to the traditional financial system and its recent meltdown will see policy-makers double down on regulating the sector. By Justin Pugsley