* Firms which supply lawyers on secondment to the FMLC Secretariat in the role of Legal Analyst
FMLC Members are drawn from key financial market stakeholders across the public and private sectors, including from investment banks, law firms, private equity firms, insurers, trade associations, government departments, financial regulators, barristers’ chambers and the ranks of serving judges. Members are appointed in a purely personal capacity and pro bono publico.
The Committee meets bimonthly to discuss developments in the wholesale financial markets and identify issues for the FMLC’s Scoping Forums or Working Groups to consider and analyse in detail.
Membership of the Committee is rotated over time: Members serve for a period of two years in the first instance, with a proportion of membership changing each year.
The FMLC Board of Directors acts as a governing body, establishing corporate management-related policies (such as electing the CEO) and making decisions on major overarching issues. As a registered charity, the FMLC’s governance is overseen by a five-member Board of Trustees.
The Secretariat conducts the day-to-day business of the FMLC. It is hosted by the Bank of England in London and directed by the Chief Executive. The Secretariat:
The FMLC is an independent charity and draws its funding from the generous donations of its patrons. Patrons are made up of financial markets participants such as the City Remembrancer’s Office for the City of London Corporation, the Bank of England and various law and accountancy firms.
The FMLC’s Trustees’ Report can be accessed here.
In 1993, responding to concern that the wholesale financial markets were developing faster than the law regulating the activities of those markets (with potentially harmful consequences for financial stability) the Financial Law Panel (“FLP”) was established. It was hoped that the FLP would provide a useful conduit between the City and Westminster. However, by 2001, it was perceived that the FLP had become distant from the main issues affecting the markets, and it was disbanded in March 2002.
Industry participants, regulators and legislators were keen that London continue to have an organisation in place to identify and analyse areas of legal uncertainty/ misunderstanding affecting the wholesale financial markets, and so the Financial Markets Law Committee was established at the Bank of England (the FMLC has always been independent from the Bank of England and any views it expresses should be understood as its own).
The Financial Markets Law Committee incorporated as an independent body in November 2013, and in December 2015 the Charity Commission accepted the FMLC’s application to register as a charity.
FMLC Chairman
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd
Committee Members as of October 2023
The task for financial regulatory authorities is formidable. Regulation is becoming vastly more complex and must address new and fast-paced technological developments; efforts to implement it within the existing legal framework face considerable obstacles. This is compounded by the novel challenge of ensuring a smooth transition for the legal framework of the wholesale financial markets during the U.K.’s secession from the European Union.
The FMLC—whose work in addressing legal uncertainty is more important than ever—will struggle to keep pace without adequate resources. The FMLC’s patrons generously fund the Charity’s activities, allowing it to maintain its independence and continue to produce high-quality research and reporting.
Please contact us for more details on becoming a patron of the FMLC.
The role of the Financial Markets Law Committee is to identify issues of legal uncertainty or misunderstanding, present and future, in the framework of the wholesale financial markets, which might give rise to material risks, and to consider how such issues should be addressed. It will also act as a bridge to the judiciary to help UK courts remain up-to-date with developments in financial markets practice.
Although the E.U. and U.K. legal and regulatory frameworks are highly developed and robust, an element of legal uncertainty is inevitable in wholesale financial markets that are international, competitive and innovative. New practices frequently give rise to uncertainties as to how the law will apply, on occasion owing to misunderstandings about existing law.
Proposals for new laws or regulations—whether as part of domestic or international initiatives—can also give rise to uncertainties or misunderstandings when specific features of wholesale markets practice have not been fully or accurately considered in the drafting by a legislator or other public authority.
The FMLC fulfils its role by liaising with legal and financial experts from both the public and private sectors in order to ascertain areas of legal uncertainty troubling stakeholders in the financial markets. Once identified, the FMLC will publish an objective paper outlining the relevant legal uncertainty and making suggestions on how it mightbe eliminated or ameliorated. The FMLC will raise the profile of such papers with representatives of the authorities (HM Government,European and/or international authorities) best positioned to assess the recommended suggestions in order to clarify the laws or regulations in question.
The FMLC aims to keep the information on this website timely and accurate. Neither the FMLC nor any of its members accepts responsibility or liability in relation to the information contained on this website.
The FMLC does not issue any legal advice of any kind.
The FMLC’s work concerning issues of legal uncertainty affecting the wholesale financial markets is of a general nature. When specific situations are under consideration, specific advice should be obtained.
The FMLC is independent and its members serve in their personal capacities. The views of the FMLC do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the institutions from which its membership is drawn, nor does the sponsorship of the FMLC indicate that its views reflect those of its Patrons.
Reproduction of the FMLC’s work is authorised provided the FMLC is acknowledged as the source of the work.