GACO Annual General Meeting 2021

In accordance with clauses 8.3, 9.5 and 16.1 of the Constitution, notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting will be held at 09.30 on Wednesday 16th June 2021 online via GoToMeeting Application.

AGENDA

1. Approval of the minutes of the 2020 Annual General Meeting held on 2nd July 2020
2. Chairperson’s Report
3. Treasurer’s Report
4. Training Committee Report
5. Ratification of Executive Committee Actions
6. Election of Executive Committee for calendar year 2021 (see notes 1 & 2 below)
7. Members’ subscription fees for calendar year 2021 (see note 3 below)
8. Any Other Business

GACO and Intelectgroup are organising this high quality Webinar that will be delivered to you by Colin Tansley of Intelectgroup.

Colin Tansley may already be known to some of you, he has visited Gibraltar on a number of occasions to deliver his Internet Investigative Skills for Due Diligence enquiries course. He will be joining us again this year for an ‘online’ workshop.

Colin regularly conducts Enhanced Due Diligence investigations for a wide range of clients. He will be sharing his experiences with you, in particular how to access better information, the best ways to do that and what to be aware of in terms of misinformation. There will be time for questions and answers at the conclusion of the session.

The European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came in on 10th March 2021 and introduced requirements on EU asset managers and advisers to make ESG related disclosures, which provide investors with the information needed to make informed choices based on ESG factors. Further ESG related EU Regulation is in the pipeline to be phased in from January 2022 onwards.

Although SFDR has been implemented after the “exit date” of 31st December 2020, therefore has not been adopted into UK law and is not expected to be imported into Gibraltar law, there are a number of ways in which SFDR and future EU regulations could apply to non-EU firms.

UK and Gibraltar financial services are facing significant changes to their EU operations as a result of Brexit.

Most notably, financial services firms knew that from January 1, 2021, they would lose their passporting rights, which allowed them to sell their services into the EU from their home base without the need for additional regulatory clearance. In order to access the single market, UK and Gibraltar based financial services firms now have to either comply with the regulatory requirements for market access set at the level of individual member states or rely on equivalence decisions. Equivalence is an EU system that gives single market access to financial firms in third countries such as the UK if their home rules are considered by Brussels to be “equivalent” to, or as robust as, regulation in the bloc.

GACO invites you to a webinar on “going paperless”. The advantages of this have been apparent to us through lockdown and GACO has asked three speakers to give their views and also to enable you to ask your questions on the issues and benefits of creating and managing a paperless office.

Director of Specialist Regulation, Heidi Bocarisa, will be sharing the GFSC's perspective on operating in a paperless world, covering both its approach to methods used during onsites, as well as the change in the organisation’s culture since assimilating a paperless system.

From 26 June 2021, a new prudential regime will apply to Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) investment firms across the EU as well as UK and Gibraltar. The changes are being introduced by the Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) and the Investment Firms Directive (IFD). The core aim of the IFR/IFD is to introduce more proportionate rules for all MIFID investment firms in relation to capital, liquidity and other risk management requirements, while ensuring a level-playing field between large and systemic financial institutions. While the IFR will be directly applicable across the EU once it enters into force in full, Member States must implement the IFD into national law by way of domestic legislation. Implementing legislation for Ireland has not yet been published.

“The disruption caused by COVID-19 has demonstrated the value of technology in overcoming some of the challenges. Digital innovation may help address issues from the longer-term decline in the use of cash, increase the availability of mass market financial advice, and reduce the need for manual processes in businesses. We are committed to supporting innovation that works for all, including vulnerable customers and smaller firms. We know that our regulatory framework needs to keep pace – focussing on outcomes, and being forward looking.”

For all sectors of financial services, the gaming industry, and other sectors of the business community such as real estate and high value dealers, having employees and management with appropriate knowledge and awareness of the financial crime controls that need to be in place and any regulatory developments is paramount. For this reason, GACO is committed to offering annual anti-money laundering training and counter-terrorism financing and is happy to invite you to attend this year’s sessions which shall be delivered by David Parody.

Speakers: James Lasry & Jay Gomez

Date: 15th October 2020
Time: 9.00 - 10.00hrs (including 15 minutes Q&A)

Price: £35 for GACO & GFIA Members; £50 for non-members

Target Audience: Compliance Officers & MLROs, Senior Management in Banks, any Person interested in knowing more about Gibraltar Funds.

Although the funds industry in Gibraltar has come a long way since its launch in 2005 and Gibraltar Funds, mainly private and experienced investor funds, are an important sector of the financial industry, for many professionals in the industry they are still unknown or there are certain questions that remain unanswered.

We are very happy in connection with Brightmed Gibraltar to announce the following very interesting webinar that is not only addressed at MLRO's and Compliance Officers but as well to any Senior Manager as well as anyone dealing with MLRO's and Compliance Officers on a daily basis.

The title of the Webinar is:

A New Paradigm - Successful Management Style for the XXI century or a new breed of Compliance Managers, where the quality of the future leadership and the success of their organisation is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

• Date: 22nd of July 2020
• Starting time: 10.30am CEST/09.30am UK time
• Short introduction by Joanne Beiso, GFSC Gibraltar
• 1 hour presentation
• 30 mins questions

The EU has adopted a new harmonised prudential regime that will apply to all investment firms authorised in the EU from June 2021. The new Investment Firm Regulation and Directive (IFR/IFD) will treat some firms as if they were credit institutions and subject them to the same prudential rules as deposit-taking banks, while imposing entirely new and potentially challenging capital, consolidation, reporting, governance and remuneration requirements on other investment firms. Firms need to act now to prepare for the application of the new regime.

Over the years, the techniques used by money launderers, financial criminals and terrorists have evolved in response to governmental and institutional countermeasures. In recent years, facing increased anti-money laundering legislation and more advanced AML/CTF procedures in credit and financial institutions, some money launderers and terrorists resorted to the non-financial sector to conceal their criminal revenues.