Clifford Chance

The FCA, Bank of England and HM Treasury has published a statement on coronavirus.

The statement includes that the FCA is working closely with the financial services sector to ensure it is responding effectively to the outbreak. All firms are expected to have contingency plans, and the FCA and Bank of England are actively reviewing these plans. The statement is clear that firms are expected to take all reasonable steps to meet their regulatory obligations.

This ties in closely with the work that firms are already undertaking to plan for disruption events in connection with their operational resilience framework. For further information, see our recent blog article.

It is clear that coronavirus raises a number of legal and regulatory risks which businesses need to be assessing and planning for now, including:

• contractual risks, such as non-fulfilment of contractual obligations;
• employment law risks, as the ability of employees and employees to carry out their respective obligations is compromised;
• cyber and information security risks as staff increasingly work from home; and
• customer communications and support which meet regulatory standards and expectations.

Clifford Chance is closely monitoring the situation and producing a wealth of material to support you and your business during the Covid-19 outbreak, which can be found on our dedicated hub.