LWMFIC: Financial Services Law and Compliance

Module code: LWMFIC

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Andrea Miglionico, email: a.miglionico@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 12 September 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The purpose of this course is to examine the regulation of financial institutions and markets and contribute to a critical understanding of the subject matter through the analysis of the most relevant areas of financial services regulation in the context of banking and securities framework. This subject has become very topical in response to the global financial crisis, which has brought the issues of regulation, supervision, and crisis management to the forefront of legal, economic and policy debate. The course provides a contextual approach to the study of financial consumer regulation, drawing on a comparative study of the law in relevant financial centres in the US, UK and EU as well as on the increasing corpus of international financial ‘soft law’. Focus is on the public regulation of national, European and international markets, and not on contractual or transactional aspects. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Explain the role of soft law and self-regulation in banking and finance.
2. Explain the relationships between regulated financial institutions and their regulators.
3. Apply theories on law and regulation to concrete factual situations.
4. Identify the challenges for effective regulation and suggest ways forward.
5. Develop coherent and solid legal arguments and communicate them effectively.
6. Learn independently to find solutions to complex legal and regulatory problems.

Module content

This module examines some of the dominant rationales for their regulation and some of the main regulatory techniques that are used. It also analyses the regulatory structures which exist at the EU level for regulating securities and capital markets. The development of EU financial regulation and UK regulatory approach to consumers is an ongoing debate among market players and stakeholders. The module will not focus on the specifics of each of the many directives; rather these are picked up in subsequent seminars which explore the substance of the regulatory provisions in specific areas. At the end of this course you should understand and be able to critically analyse the key elements of EU law relating to financial services, their underlying policy rationales, and the institutional structures by which they are made. The course also examines the financial crime management and market abuse practices (insider dealing and insider trading) highlighting the compliance aspects and governance of financial firms. No previous knowledge of banking or financial markets or finance theory is required although this is of value. It is assumed that students have no prior background expertise. The course provides the necessary background material required on financial markets and their structure and operation. The course offers practical cases along with the theoretical background and current regulatory developments.

The module may include the following topics:

• The EU Financial Architecture
• MiFID legislation: MiFID 2 and MiFIR
• UK financial architecture and Global Financial Crisis
• Financial Consumer Protection
• Role and functions of compliance in financial firms
• Regtech and Regulatory Sandboxes
• The Clearing and Settlement Process. Digital payments and PSD2
• Market Abuse: Insider Trading and Market Manipulation
• Fintech and Artificial Intelligence in financial services
• Digital Financial Platforms 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching is by seminar method, whereby material is prepared in advance and made available online for class discussion. This will strengthen student’s understanding of the more specialist issues which normally follow later in the academic year. Learning methods require the following components: 

• 11 weeks 2-hour seminars plus 3 weeks of assessment in Semester 2. Seminars are discussion-based classes  
• Assessed coursework  
• Non-assessed group presentation  
• External feedback from guests 
• Report and discussion of recent developments in financial consumer policy 

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

In-class peer assessment for individual/group presentation.

Reassessment

Additional costs