• European Union’s legislation: Directives and Regulations
• The Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) of the European Union
• Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID): The difficult passport
• From “core” and “non-core” investment services to “investment services and activities” and “ancillary services” 

• UCITS iii: The easier passport
• UCITS iii - The Management Directive (Directive 2001/107/EC)
• Relations with third countries
• The right of establishment and the freedom to provide services
• Operating conditions
• The simplified prospectus
• UCITS iii - The Product Directive (Directive 2001/108/EC)
• A wider range of financial instruments
• UCITS iii and other Directives

• Management companies
• Governance
• Risk Management

• UCITS iii and the European Economic Area (EEA)
• UCITS iii and countries outside the European Economic Area
• UCITS iii and the Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs)
• UCITS iii and the USA
• UCITS iii, MiFID and the Reg NMS: Similarities and differences between the United States and the European Economic Area / European Union

• UCITS iii compliant funds 
• ETFs that are UCITS iii compliant funds domiciled in countries of the EEA
• ETFs with "UCITS status" acknowledged by the UK FSA and other EEA countries
• ETFs based on alternative assets such as commodities with UCITS iii status
• ETCs - Exchange Traded Commodities
• Sophisticated UCITS
• UCITS iii and Alternative Investments
• MiFID and Hedge Funds
• Onshore and offshore legal structures
• UCITS iii and alternative investment products authorised under different regimes 
• Hedge Funds and Alternative Investments after UCITS iii

• Compliance
• Operations
• Risk
• IT
• Legal
• Internal Audit
• Internal Controls
• Trading
• Portfolio Management
• Hedge Funds and Alternative Investments
• IT, Security and Management Consultants

• European Union’s legislation: Directives and Regulations
• The European Unions Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP)
• Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID): A major step leading to the creation of a single European Market in Financial Services
• The Investment Services Directive (ISD) that has been replaced by MiFID
• From the ISD to MiFID: What is different now
• From “core” and “non-core” investment services to “investment services and activities” and “ancillary services” 

• Level 1: Framework Principles
• Level 2: Implementation of Principles. Detailed Technical Measures
• Level 3: Strengthening Cooperation Among Regulators
• Level 4: Enforcement

• From Know Your Customer (KYC) to Client Classification (CC)
• Best Execution and Information to Clients
• Order Handling
• Suitability
• Extended Passport: Services across Europe
• Conduct of Business
• Stock Exchanges compete with Trading Platforms and Investment Firms
• Systematic Internalisers
• Transaction Reporting across the EEA

• How MiFID extends the coverage of the Investment Services Directive
• Exemptions and Optional exemptions
• Definitions
• MiFID and options, futures, swaps, forward rate agreements, and any other derivative contracts and “other derivative contracts relating to assets, rights, obligations, indices and measures”

• Requirements and Scope
• Relations with third countries

• On-going supervision
• Conflicts of interest
• Conduct of Business (COB) obligations 
• Obligation to execute orders on terms “most favourable” to the client
• Client order handling rules
• Tied agents
• Transactions executed with eligible counterparties
• Obligation to uphold integrity of markets, report transactions and maintain records
• Monitoring of compliance
• Obligation to make public firm quotes 
• Pre-trade transparency requirements
• Post-trade disclosure and transparency requirements

• Freedom to provide investment services and activities
• Establishment of a branch
• Access to regulated markets

• Organisational requirements 
• Admission of financial instruments to trading 
• Suspension and removal of instruments from trading 
• Monitoring of compliance
• Pre-trade and Post-trade transparency requirements

• Designation of competent authorities 
• Administrative sanctions
• Extra-judicial mechanism for investors' complaints
• Professional secrecy
• Relations with auditors

• Obligation to cooperate
• Exchange of information
• Powers for Host Member States
• Exchange of information with third countries

• The impact of MiFID on corporate governance
• The role of the board of directors and executive management

• From the Directive to the Interpretations and the Technical Measures
• CESR: The Committee of European Securities Regulators
• CESR - MiFID Level 2 Expert Group
• CESR - MiFID Level 3 Expert Group
• Level 4 challenges

• MiFID and the European Economic Area (EEA)
• MiFID and countries outside the European Economic Area
• MiFID and the Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs)
• MiFID and the USA
• MiFID and the Reg NMS: Similarities and differences between the Regulation for National Market System (Reg NMS) in the United States and the MiFID in EU

• Interaction between MiFID and other regulatory initiatives
• MiFID, Basel ii and the Capital Requirements Directive
• MiFID and the 8th Company Law Directive
• MiFID and the Financial Conglomerates Directive
• MiFID and UCITS iii
• MiFID and the 3rd Anti Money Laundering Directive of the EU
• Using MiFID data for compliance with other directives

• MiFID and Hedge Funds
• New challenge for Hedge Fund managers
• Sophisticated onshore and offshore legal structures
• A new pressure for Transparency
• Minimizing regulatory, operational and compliance risks 
• MiFID and Mutual Funds
• MiFID and mutual recognition of alternative investment products authorised under different regimes 
• Management and Administration of Alternative Investments inside and outside the European Union

• Increased competition
• Pre- and post-trade transparency
• New risks and opportunities
• Hedge Funds and Alternative Investments after MiFID
• The “Fund of Funds” opportunity for regulators

The seminar has been designed to provide with the knowledge and skills needed to understand the European Union’s Directives and Regulations that give opportunities for arbitrage and competitive advantage to banks,  hedge funds and financial organizations of the Offshore Financial Centers 

This course is intended for senior executives from Banks, Financial Organizations, Hedge Funds, Financial Supervisors and Regulators of the Offshore Financial Centers 

This course is highly recommended for all managers and professionals from the Offshore Financial Centers, who provide financial services to clients from the 30 countries of the European Economic Area 

3 Days, 09:00 to 17:00.  

• Introduction
• Understanding the directives and the regulations of the European Union that affect the Offshore Financial Centers
• The European Union’s Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP)
• The most Important Directives
• The Lamfalussy process
• What is new, what is different for banks and financial organizations outside the European Economic Area

• Extraterritorial Application of EU directives and regulations
• The European Savings Tax Directive (that harmed the UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories and helped their competitors, OFCs outside of the influence of the European Union) – lessons learned
• From the Savings Tax Directive to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), the 8^th Company Law Directive (European Sarbanes Oxley) and other directives

• The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
• From the Investment Services Directive (ISD) to MiFID: What is different now
• From the “know your customer” requirements to the new client classification, suitability and appropriateness
• Conduct of Business (COB) obligations
• The Regulation for National Market System (Reg NMS) in the United States and the MiFID in EU – a flat world?
• MiFID and options, futures, swaps, forward rate agreements, and other derivative contracts
• Extraterritorial Application of MiFID
• Challenges and opportunities for countries outside the European Economic Area
• MiFID and investment products authorized under different regimes 
• Hedge Funds in the European Economic Area (EEA) after MiFID
• New challenges for Hedge Fund managers
• MiFID and competitive advantage - Recommendations for banks and financial organizations of the Offshore Financial Centers

• The 8^th Company Law Directive
• The European Union’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act (E-SOX)
• Non-European companies listed in any country of the EEA have to comply with the 8th company law directive
• Which are the extremely important extraterritorial consequences
• How and why several Offshore Financial Centers enact legislation to prove that they have an “equivalent level of regulation”
• Auditors that audit offshore companies with EU listings
• The Offshore Financial Centers and the importance of Articles 45 and 46
• The role of the board of directors and executive management
• From the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to the European Group of Auditors’ Oversight Bodies (EGAOB)
• Similarities and differences with the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• The Market Abuse Directive
• The Transparency Directive

• Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (UCITS III)
• UCITS III and funds sold across the EU member states
• Funds designed for pan-European distribution to retail investors
• A passport to operate and market freely within the EEA that is easier to obtain (and cheaper)
• Establishing a fund in one EEA member state like Ireland or Luxembourg
• Permitted Activities of Management Companies
• EU Passport for Management Companies
• Tax implications of UCITS III
• Expanded permissible asset classes and broader scope of investment possibilities
• Although not directly applicable outside the EEA, jurisdictions (like Switzerland and Hong Kong) recognize UCITS – the reasons
• Funds of Funds
• Opportunities and Challenges

• The Capital Requirements Directive
• Basel ii will be implementation in the European Economic Area via the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) – differences from what is happening at the Offshore Financial Centers
• The freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services in the EEA
• Relations with third countries
• Powers of the authorities of the home and host Member State
• Hedge Funds, Alternative investments and the CRD
• Structured products, Securitization after Basel II and the CRD
• Traditional and Synthetic Securitisation
• Regulatory arbitrage
• The national discretions and the options in the EEA
• Countries and banks use Basel II and especially the Capital Requirements Directive as a competitive advantage

• The Financial Conglomerates Directive
• The “supplementary” supervision of credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms in a financial conglomerate
• The supervision of financial conglomerates and financial groups involved in cross-sectoral activities
• The “coordinating supervisor” or how to avoid a new BCCI
• Risk concentration
• Intra-group transactions
• Firms that are headquartered outside the EU, and are operating in EU markets
• The Joint Forum on Financial Conglomerates
• What is important for the Offshore Financial Centers
• Exchange of information with the EEA

• Tomorrow
• New directives and regulations – what is developing
• Indirect and direct regulation of Hedge Funds
• Know your customer – next step
• Solvency II is for insurance firms what the Basel ii and the Capital Requirements Directive is for banks
• Insurers holding capital according to new rules
• Replacing many existing Insurance Directives (like the Life, Non-life, Reinsurance, Insurance Groups and Winding-up Directives)
• The Internal market for financial services in the European Union: The banking, the securities and the insurance sectors in EU – what is next

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