The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions and authorisations for new product and service offerings.

Banque Delubac & Cie, MiCA
A 101-year-old French bank has pushed into the modern age by achieving European MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) authorisation.

Banque Delubac & Cie, a French bank founded in 1924, can now offer a range of crypto asset services in Europe, such as secure custody, discretionary management of crypto asset portfolios, staking and asset tokenization. 

The firm said it was the first French bank to be registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) in 2022.

Banque Delubac & Cie was advised on this transaction by Anne Maréchal (partner), Julie Bader (senior solicitor), and Clara Zerbib (solicitor) at law firm De Gaulle Fleurance.

The Securities and Commodities Authority, Dubai Financial Services Authority
The Securities and Commodities Authority, the United Arab Emirates’ regulator, and the Dubai Financial Services Authority, have entered a pact to foster closer cooperation. 

The Memorandum of Understanding between the DFSA and SCA is designed to strengthen regulatory oversight of the audit function and will include areas such as firm registration and inspection. This will improve financial reporting, market integrity, and boost investor confidence in the United Arab Emirates’ financial sector, the organisations said in a statement yesterday.

ACA Group
ACA Group, a New York-headquartered governance, risk, and compliance advisor in financial services, announced earlier this month that it has launched its Market Abuse Risk Framework. It is a solution designed to help UK and European regulated buy-side firms identify, manage, and monitor market abuse risks.

With increasing scrutiny from regulators and investors, firms are under pressure to demonstrate robust controls and conduct frameworks aligned with European and UK regimes such as the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). The UK’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has intensified pressure in its newly-announced five-year enforcement strategy.

“What truly differentiates this solution is the depth of expertise driving it,” Raj Somal, ACA Group partner, said. “Our clients are navigating increasingly complex trading, and jurisdictional and infrastructure environments, and often without a clear, actionable view of their market abuse risk.”

The framework includes:
-- A proprietary matrix that maps market abuse offences against trading activity across asset classes; 

-- Reviews of surveillance systems, policies and procedures, Suspicious Transaction and Order Reports procedures, information barriers, and related policies; 

-- Coverage of public and private assets, real assets, exchange-traded funds, custom baskets, and algorithmic and quantitative strategies; 

-- Evaluation and review of surveillance technology to ensure alignment with a firm's market abuse risk profile and internal policies and procedures; and 

-- Delivery of a reusable risk framework document with guidance on maintenance and updates.

The firm has a ComplianceAlpha® regulatory technology platform to provide integrated surveillance and monitoring capabilities that span the entire trade lifecycle, including trade and eComms surveillance, conflicts of interest, as well as expert networks and research meetings.