An outline of a summary of key tasks for compliance teams along with a summary of FCA’s priorities during 2021 and our analysis of key regulatory developments and longer-term trends.
During 2020, our understanding of risk fundamentally changed. In four chaotic weeks starting in late February, the western world went into lockdown and global equity markets fell by about a third. The massive fiscal and monetary intervention by governments and central banks to combat the economic devastation of Covid-19 sparked an initial rally in April and May, followed by a further surge in the closing months of the year.
Most global markets (although not the energy-dominated FTSE 100) eventually closed up on the year. Bitcoin, perhaps the ultimate hedge against hyperinflation and depreciating asset values, climbed by over 300% during the same period (and further still since).
The final eight weeks of 2020 saw some more solid grounds for optimism: a US election outcome that augurs greater respect for international institutions; the discovery, approval and roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in record time; and a Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and UK just days before the precipice of a no-deal.
With the UK remaining in full lockdown, will 2021 yet see a bounding forward of economic and environmental progress, or a relapse into the stagnation and political division of the 2010s?
We’ve outlined a summary of key tasks for the compliance function, followed by a summary of the FCA’s priorities during 2021 and our analysis of key regulatory developments and longer-term trends. Topics include: