UK Funds Market Practice Group. Terms of Reference

Transcription

1 Reference UKFMPG/ToR Date 11/09/2015 Issue Issue 2.0 UK Funds Market Practice Group UK national constituent of the Securities Market Practice Group

2 Document History Version Date Author Description /01/2012 D Broadway Initial publication /09/2015 B Cocks Updated for broader remit. Contents 1 BACKGROUND Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) UK Funds Market Practice Group (UKFMPG) UK FUNDS MARKET PRACTICE GROUP Objectives Scope Principles Organisation Membership Chairs Plenary Meetings Working groups Decisions Market Practice Preparation Publication Maintenance... 6 Issue 2.0 UKFMPG/ToR Page 2

3 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) (Selected extracts from the SMPG By-laws) (.1) The Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG) is a not-for profit global securities industry group representing country national market practice groups and other affiliated organisations. The membership of the national groups consists of securities players in the local market. (.2) The mission of the SMPG is to create globally harmonised market practices with the objective of enhancing Straight Through Processing (STP) at an industry level. This objective includes the harmonisation of non-regulated geographic differences as well as consistent implementation of ISO messaging standards by securities industry participants for processing within and across all markets. (.3) The membership of the SMPG is committed to the vision that standards in conjunction with defined market practices will bring the industry closer to its goal of achieving STP. (.4) At global level, the SMPG consists of four working groups: Corporate Actions (active) Investment Funds (active) Settlement & Reconciliation (active) Trade Initiation (dormant) (.5) The SMPG is organised at both global and local country levels. The objective of the National Market Practice Groups (NMPGs) is to discuss and agree on local harmonised market practices. These practices shall be in line with existing globally agreed market practices. Country specific requirements shall be documented, published (on and kept up to date by the group. (.6) The NMPGs are expected to comment on SMPG global market practice working documents and to send representation to the SMPG meetings. Local meetings are held at the convenience of the NMPG groups. 1.2 UK Funds Market Practice Group (UKFMPG) (.1) The UK Funds Market Practice Group (UKFMPG) is a national constituent of the Investment Funds Working Group of the global Securities Market Practice Group (SMPG). (.2) This document describes the objectives and organisation of the UKFMPG. Issue 2.0 UKFMPG/ToR Page 3

4 2 UK FUNDS MARKET PRACTICE GROUP 2.1 Objectives (.1) The objective of the UKFMPG is to facilitate more efficient processing in the UK investment industry by publishing standards for electronic interactions between financial services organisations. 2.2 Scope (.1) The UKFMPG will focus on electronic messaging for the UK savings and investment industry. (.2) The UKFMPG will be concerned only with the definition of technical standards. Any issues concerning the legal arrangements between counterparties or disputes between counterparties will be referred to other bodies. (.3) Standards will primarily be based around the ISO message set but the UKFMPG may choose to publish market practices based on other data standards if appropriate. 2.3 Principles (.1) All market practice recommendations will be made with the best interests of consumers of UK retail financial services in mind. (.2) Membership will be free and all agreed standards will be openly published and free for any organisation to use regardless of whether they are a member of the UKFMPG. (.3) Existing open standards from other bodies will be recommended where appropriate in preference to creating new standards. (.4) To encourage open and constructive debate, all discussions at UKFMPG meetings will be treated as confidential. UKFMPG members should not relay the content of UKFMPG meetings to anyone outside of the organisation they are representing. (.5) Participants in UKFMPG meetings should not disclose any information or prompt any debate which could significantly impede effective competition in the market. 2.4 Organisation Membership (.1) Membership will be open to any individual or organisation interested in supporting the aims of the UKFMPG Chairs (.1) The UKFMPG will have two co-chairs whose roles are to chair UKFMPG plenary meetings, represent the views of the UKFMPG at global level (the SMPG) and ensure the circulation of information to UKFMPG participants at local level. Issue 2.0 UKFMPG/ToR Page 4

5 (.2) If neither is able to attend a global SMPG meeting, they may nominate someone else to do so from within the UKFMPG. (.3) In the interests of neutrality the co-chairs should be from separate organisations wherever possible. (.4) The chair and vice-chair will be elected from participants in the UKFMPG who may volunteer for that purpose at the annual plenary meeting Plenary Meetings (.1) The UKFMPG shall hold at least one plenary meeting each year, to which all UKFMPG participants shall be invited. The agenda will, as a minimum, include: Reports of working group activities during the year Report on discussions at the global SMPG Election of chair and vice-chair positions Determination of the UKFMPG's priorities going forward Working groups (.1) Working groups may be formed and meet as necessary to develop market practices for specific processes or business domains or for any other purpose that may assist in the work of the UKFMPG. (.2) Working groups shall nominate a chair and, if desired, a co- or vice-chair from within the group Decisions (.1) Decisions will be based primarily on consensus: a group decision-making process in which group members agree to support a decision in the best interest of the whole. This should result in an acceptable resolution, one that can be supported, even if not the favourite of each organisation. (.2) In the unlikely event that consensus cannot be reached, a vote will take place, with a simple majority of the votes cast needed for a decision to be taken. Voting will be on a one vote per organisation basis. 2.5 Market Practice Preparation (.1) Market practices will be prepared and agreed within the relevant working group. (.2) A market practice will typically comprise: A market practice document describing business processes, message sequences and data content Detailed XML message usage guidelines prepared in MyStandards (see Issue 2.0 UKFMPG/ToR Page 5

6 2.5.2 Publication (.1) Once finalised, market practice documents are published on the SMPG website ( and MyStandards website ( They may also be published elsewhere in the interests of widening their exposure to the industry Maintenance (.1) Following the initial publication, the relevant working group will continue to maintain the market practice by agreeing and publishing updated versions in line with regulatory and market developments. (.2) Except where dictated by regulation, updated market practices should as far as possible be published with an implementation date no earlier than six months afterwards in order to allow systems to be changed. Working groups may agree longer lead times where appropriate. (.3) The working group should publish a list of changes since the previous version alongside the new market practice. End of Document Issue 2.0 UKFMPG/ToR Page 6