On 20 September 2019, a large group of financial industry associations co-published a letter raising concerns to the European Commission regarding the current application timeline for the new EU disclosure rules for sustainable investments and sustainability risks. Whilst supporting the Commission’s objectives of financing a more sustainable economy, the industry associations’ argue that the Regulation … Continue Reading
In our latest ESG insight video, Beth Duff and Simon Lovegrove discuss the European Commission’s EU taxonomy proposal for sustainable activities. For more videos and insights on ESG and sustainable finance, please visit our dedicated knowledge hub, ESG Insight.… Continue Reading
On 2 July 2019, the FCA published a Joint Declaration with the PRA, the Pensions Regulator and Financial Reporting Council, welcoming the publication of the Government’s Green Finance Strategy and setting out a shared understanding of the financial risks and opportunities of climate change. The FCA welcomes the Chancellor’s announcement that the FCA will have … Continue Reading
On 18 June 2019, the European Commission published new guidelines on corporate climate-related information reporting, as part of its Sustainable Finance Action Plan. The guidelines are intended to provide companies with practical recommendations on how to better report the impact that their activities are having on the climate as well as the impact of climate … Continue Reading
Dialogue on the EU-Switzerland Framework Agreement recommenced on Friday 07 June with a letter from the Swiss Federal Council to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker . This is the first public correspondence since negotiations reached a stalemate in December 2018. Negotiations on an inter-institutional agreement, which would usually be of little importance to equity markets, … Continue Reading
We have launched a new environmental, social and governance (ESG) page on our Asset Management Regulation knowledge hub. This page is called ‘ESG insight’. ESG insight contains resources and materials to guide asset managers through the evolving regulatory landscape on ESG, features include: videos from our financial services team discussing UK and EU regulatory developments … Continue Reading
We have published a new video as part of our ESG video series. In this video, Imogen Garner discusses key UK developments in the ESG sector.… Continue Reading
A new video is now available as part of our ESG video series. In this video, Simon Lovegrove and Beth Duff discuss the European Commission’s action plan on sustainable finance, and specifically the proposal for a Regulation for disclosures. In our next video, Imogen Garner will discuss the current UK developments surrounding ESG.… Continue Reading
On 3 May 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its technical advice to the European Commission (Commission) on sustainable finance initiatives to support the European Commission’s Sustainability Action Plan in the areas of investment services and investment funds. The final reports contain technical advice to the Commission on the integration of sustainability … Continue Reading
We have launched a new video series in which members of our financial services team discuss key regulatory developments within the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) sector. In our first video of the series, Imogen Garner, Beth Duff and Simon Lovegrove discuss the evolving ESG regulatory landscape.… Continue Reading
The legislative review of the European Commission proposal amending, amongst other things, the regulations establishing the European Supervisory Authorities (so called “ESAs review proposal”) continues in the Council and in the European Parliament. The Commission’s proposal has given rise to several contentious issues, in particular some Member States have raised concerns about the undue and … Continue Reading
On 12 September 2018, the European Commission published an amended proposal on the amendment of the three regulations founding the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). The amendments proposed aim to centralise the tasks relating to the prevention and combatting of money-laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CTF) into the European Banking Authority (EBA). The amended proposal extends the … Continue Reading
On 24 May, the European Commission released a set of legislative proposals on financing sustainable growth (so called Sustainable Finance Package). These measures are the first steps towards implementing some of the recommendations of the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on sustainable finance published in January 2018 and are part of the European Commission Action Plan … Continue Reading
The European Commission has launched a 4 week public consultation on the REFIT review of Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 on cross-border payments in the Community (SEPA Migration Regulation). The review is one of the first initiatives of the Commission’s Action Plan on Consumer Financial Services to be put into motion. The inception impact assessment explains … Continue Reading
On 21 June 2017, the European Commission launched a four-week public consultation on the inception impact assessment of its initiative to reduce barriers to the cross-border distribution of investment funds.… Continue Reading
Last week Member State representatives met to continue discussions on the proposal for a Regulation on central counterparty (CCP) recovery and resolution. The Presidency compromise text, published on 28 April 2017, served as a basis of discussion. In this compromise text, the Presidency has sought to reflect Member States discussion thus far, as well as … Continue Reading
Commission Vice President Dombrovskis has responded to concerns raised by MEPs on the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) regarding systematic internalisers (SIs) operating broker crossing networks. Following calls from the legislators and supervisors in December 2016 and February 2017, respectively, the Commission conducted a … Continue Reading
The European Commission has published its long-awaited Action Plan on Retail Financial Services. Notably the Action Plan has been rebranded as the “Consumer Financial Services Action Plan” and is less FinTech (financial technology) focussed than anticipated. Presumably, this work has been subsumed by the FinTech Task Force (FTTF), an internal Commission task force established in … Continue Reading
On March 8, 2017 the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee held a hearing on third-country equivalence in EU financial services regulation. The exchange of views with the European Commission and the Chairmen of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) follows the publication of a Commission staff working document on the same topic at … Continue Reading
