On June 10, 2015, the Fair and Effective Markets Review (FEMR),
established by the Chancellor in June 2014 to conduct a review of
fixed income, currency and commodity markets, published its
final report. The report contains 21 policy recommendations
aimed at preventing a repeat of the recent years' misconduct in
fixed income, currencies and commodities markets. The
recommendations largely rely on market-led initiatives, or suggest
legislative reforms to formalize regulators' existing practices
and extend incoming reforms to previously under-regulated
markets.
The recommendations include the creation of a Market Standards
Board to improve dialogue between regulators and the
industry, the extension of the senior managers' regime to
non-banks and (as the key element of the review) regulation of spot
foreign exchange (FX). In the UK, spot FX has previously been
treated as falling outside the scope of financial regulation and
securities laws since it involves trading
