May 2014

The Council of the EU has published a compromise proposal on the European Commission’s proposed Regulation on European Long-Term Investment Funds. Additions and changes to the previous 9 May 2014 version of the compromise proposal are denoted by bold underlining and deletions by strikethroughs. Further developments on the compromise proposal are to be discussed at the meeting on 28 May.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a consultation on a draft ECB Regulation on supervisory fees, along with an accompanying questions and answers document, a template for comments and a new webpage detailing consultation timeframes. The draft Regulation sets out the arrangements under which the ECB will levy an annual supervisory fee for the expenditure to be incurred in relation to its new role as supervisor of euro area banks under the single supervisory mechanism. It specifies the methodology for:

The European Commission has updated its table setting out legislative actions that it expects to adopt between 1 May 2014 to 31 December 2014. The initiatives include a Commission Communication in May which sets out the main findings and conclusions of a fundamental review of the regulatory reform agenda. The Commission will also be working on a legislative initiative on a framework for crisis management and resolution for financial institutions other than banks.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has updated its questions and answers (Q&As) on the single rulebook, which relate to the CRD IV package of reforms: the CRD IV Directive, the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and the related technical standards and guidelines developed by the EBA. The Q&As include new answers on the following topics:

Platform rules – thematic review

In March 2014, the FCA carried out a thematic review on the preparedness of the platform market to new rules that came into force on 6 April 2014. These new rules were the first extension of the existing rules that were implemented on 31 December 2012 for the Retail Distribution Review. The FCA engaged with 10 platforms which, combined, represented 75% of the platform market. As part of this thematic review, the FCA noted some examples of good practice and areas where further focus was needed. The FCA highlighted the following areas as requiring further focus by firms: