Access to Financial Services Markets Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation
EU Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments (‘MiFIR’) allows third country investment firms to provide cross-border investment services and activities to certain professional clients and eligible counterparties in the EU as long as they come from jurisdictions which have been determined to have equivalent rules.
	At the end of the Transition Period, this equivalence regime (sometimes referred to as the "Title 8 Regime") formed part of retained EU law and therefore continues to apply in the UK, with the necessary changes made under the EUWA to ensure that it operates effectively following the end of the Transition Period. Under this regime, HM Treasury has the necessary powers to assess whether a third country is equivalent for the purposes of the Title 8 Regime, as such allowing cross-border market access for that jurisdiction’s investment firms. This Act updates the Title 8 Regime to broadly reflect the changes the EU introduced to their own regime.
	The Act provides the FCA with a power to specify reporting requirements for firms that register under the Title 8 Regime. The purpose of this change is to ensure that the FCA has an appropriate degree of oversight over firms that could register under the regime. It will also enable HM Treasury to, where appropriate, impose specific requirements on firms that have registered under the Title 8 Regime to address issues related to the firm’s carrying on of business in the UK, as opposed to the home state.
	The Act includes amendments to the equivalence assessment criteria to reflect the changes to the UK’s prudential rules as a result of provisions in this Act as set out in paragraphs 6-14. The FCA will have the power to make rules to operationalise the additional requirements as specified by HM Treasury, to the extent that these may be necessary to provide further clarity to firms on how they may be expected to comply. This power does not permit the FCA to establish new additional requirements which go beyond what is specified by HM Treasury.
	The Act also introduces additional powers for the FCA to impose temporary restrictions or prohibitions on, or withdraw the registration of, firms that register under the Title 8 Regime. It finally includes further amendments to clarify the scope of the reverse solicitation exception, which allows third country firms to service UK clients at the client’s own initiative, without relying on the Title 8 Regime.