The Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has published a statement of good practice (SoGP) on unauthorised trading frameworks in Transparency Draft for industry consultation. The draft is intended to help establish practical foundations for oversight and controls for unauthorised trading, and to support more consistent expectations among firms and regulators regarding the frameworks needed to address such activity. It follows FMSB’s earlier work on front office supervision and reflects input from FMSB members, including buy-side and sell-side firms, as well as contributions from the global regulatory community. Responses are sought by 15 September 2025.

The Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has published its final Standard for Sharing of Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs), aiming to enhance the adoption of electronic solutions for standardising and pre-authenticating settlement instructions, facilitating straight-through-processing, and improving SSI management efficiency to reduce settlement failures. When electronic solutions are not feasible, the Standard provides templates for manual sharing of SSIs, designed with ISITC(headquartered in North America and formerly known as the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication) and based on ISO 20022 taxonomy to minimise ambiguity and automate data ingestion.

The Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has published an updated Statement of Good Practice (SoGP) for front office supervision in wholesale traded markets. The updated SoGP includes 15 good practice statements organised under five themes to assist firms in supervising market and client-facing activities. The SoGP builds on the original 2017 publication and addresses new challenges arising from evolving regulations, new working practices, and technological advancements. The SoGP is intended to supplement existing, broader supervisory guidance relating to front office supervision.

The Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) has published a Statement of Good Practice on unauthorised trading frameworks to help firms prevent and mitigate the risk of unauthorised trading activity in wholesale markets. The statement outlines good practices across 13 key areas, including governance, accountability, and controls. It recommends that firms establish a clear authorised trading framework that defines authorisation perimeters, documents roles and responsibilities across the front-to-back trade lifecycle, and embeds a strong risk culture. The statement advises firms to implement both preventative and detective controls—spanning pre-trade to post-trade stages—to identify and mitigate unauthorised activity. It also highlights the importance of consistent consequence management, effective escalation and reporting procedures, and ongoing testing, review, and horizon scanning to assess control effectiveness and detect emerging risks. Additionally, it emphasises the integration of management information, analytics, and accountability mechanisms to deter fraudulent or manipulative trading. The guidance applies to all forms of trading but does not address specific trading variations such as end-to-end controls, risk, algorithmic trading, or market abuse.

The Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) is consulting on a transparency draft of its Standard for Sharing of Standard Settlement Instructions (SSIs). The standard is applicable to firms when sharing their own SSIs, or where they manage their clients’ SSIs as part of their commercial relationship (for example where they perform custodial or prime brokerage services), in relation to their clients’ SSIs. It does not apply to firms’ management of their counterparties’ SSIs. Responses are sought by 18 October 2024.

CASE HUB Archived—this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the decision of 4 June 2021; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline. Case facts Outline UK remittal investigation into the completed acquisition by FNZ (Australia) Bidco Pty Ltd of GBST Holdings Limited. The transaction involves horizontal overlaps in the market for solutions involving software and/or servicing to retail investment platforms in the UK. Latest developments On 4 June 2021, the CMA issued its final report in its phase 2 investigation, finding that the transaction has resulted, or may be expected to result, in an SLC within the supply of retail investments platform solutions in the UK. As a result, the CMA has decided that the full divestiture of GBST but with a right for FNZ to buy back certain assets of GBST’s capital markets business would be the most effective and proportionate remedy. Parties • FNZ (Australia) Bidco Pty (FNZ): FNZ is an Australian based company. It develops and publishes wealth management platforms. FNZ produces

CASE HUB Archived—this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the decision of 5 November 2020; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline. NOTE—following the appeal lodged before the CAT in FNZ (Australia) Bidco Pty Ltd v CMA, the investigation was remitted back to the CMA (see further, FNZ (Australia) Bidco Pty Ltd/GBST Holdings Limited (remittal investigation)) Case facts Outline UK merger investigation into the completed acquisition by FNZ (Australia) Bidco Pty Ltd of GBST Holdings Limited. The transaction involves horizontal overlaps in the market for solutions involving software and/or servicing to retail investment platforms in the UK. Latest developments On 5 November 2020, the CMA issued its final report in its phase 2 investigation, finding that the transaction has resulted, or may be expected to result, in an SLC as a result of horizontal unilateral effects in the supply of retail platform solutions in the UK. As a result, the CMA has decided to prohibit the completed transaction in its entirety. Parties • FNZ (Australia)

First Of A Kind

A FOB (free on board) contract is where the seller has the duty to deliver the goods on board ship at his own expenses for carriage to the buyer.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Trade Organisation for the Nuclear Industry in Europe.

The CEO and chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), Abby Thomas, has written to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to update the regulator on evidence given to the Treasury Select Committee as part of its inquiry into small-to-medium enterprise (SME) finance.