The title of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Policy Statement 17/13 (PS 17/13) – Investment and corporate banking: prohibition of restrictive contractual clauses – might lead one to think that the market study the FCA made into investment and corporate banking1 had resulted in a massive assault on the terms of business for investment and corporate banking. The actual scope of the paper, and of the new FCA rules made in it, is much more modest. It is nevertheless significant as an indicator of the increasing willingness of the FCA to intervene in the “wholesale” markets and to begin, even if only in a cautious and limited way, to consider competition issues and client service in those markets.
From 3 January 2018, in addition to all the new duties they will have under MiFID II, banks and other corporate finance firms will not be allowed to enter into a written agreement with a client which contains a prohibited form of “future service restriction”.