On 7 February 2019, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a final report on good or sound practices within commodity storage and delivery infrastructures. The report builds on the findings of IOSCO’s report ‘The Impact of Storage and Delivery Infrastructure on Derivatives Market Pricing’ (Storage Report), which was published in May 2016. The … Continue Reading
On 5 October 2018, the Dispute Settlement and Sanctions Committee (CoRDiS) of French Regulatory Commission (CRE) fined VITOL S.A. €5 million for engaging in market manipulation on the French Southern virtual Gas Trading Point (PEG Sud) between 1 June 2013 and 31 March 2014. The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has … Continue Reading
On 28 September 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published two reports concerning the legislative package on the prudential regulation of investment firms: report on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prudential requirements of investment firms and amending Regulations (EU) No … Continue Reading
On 19 September 2018 the UK House of Commons Treasury Committee (the Committee) published its report on the possible regulation of crypto-assets (the Report). Commenting on the Report, Committee chair Rt Hon. Nicky Morgan MP argued that the crypto-assets industry is highly unregulated, which results in numerous risks for investors. Hence, with this Report the … Continue Reading
Markus Ferber, a German MEP, has been elected the new whip for the European People’s Party in the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). Mr Ferber previously was the first vice chair of the ECON committee and succeeds Burkhard Balz who is leaving the Parliament to join the board of German Bundesbank … Continue Reading
On 12 July 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published details of its action plan for systematic internaliser (SI) regime calculations ahead of their publication on 1 August 2018. ESMA’s action plan focuses on equity, equity-like instruments and bonds while postponing the publication of derivatives and other instruments to 1 February 2019. The … Continue Reading
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP will be hosting a lunchtime debate with Markus Ferber Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament. Markus Ferber has played a key role in shaping the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and is currently the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the new EU prudential … Continue Reading
On 10 May 2018, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a working paper as part of its market investigation into investment consultants which sets out the analysis the authority has undertaken to examine whether pension schemes which are more engaged with the market receive better outcomes (in terms of price) than those that are … Continue Reading
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a consultative working paper as part of its investment consultants’ market investigation. The working paper sets out the CMA’s initial analysis of trustee engagement with investment consultancy and fiduciary management. It considers the extent to which pension scheme trustees are able to assess the value for money … Continue Reading
On 11 April 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published a draft report on the proposed Directive on the prudential supervision of investment firms. The draft report contains a draft European Parliament legislative resolution which sets out suggested amendments to the draft Directive. The Rapportuer for the draft Directive, Markus … Continue Reading
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has issued a consultation on its draft guidelines for credit institutions on how to effectively manage non-performing exposures (NPEs) and forborne exposures (FBEs). The guidelines are designed primarily to reduce NPEs on banks’ balance sheets by providing supervisory guidance to ensure that credit institutions effectively manage NPEs and FBEs in … Continue Reading
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA, EBA and EIOPA) (the ESAs) have issued a warning to consumers on the high risks of buying and/or holding so-called virtual currencies (VCs). The warning is based on Article 9(3) of the ESAs’ founding Regulations and follows the publication of statements by ESMA on initial coin offerings. The warning sets … Continue Reading
The Government Relations and Public Policy team have issued a short video on the European Commission’s legislative proposals for a new prudential regime for non-systemic investment firms. The video can be found here.… Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued the results of a peer review it conducted into how Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) ensure that central counterparties comply with EMIR. Overall, ESMA found that NCAs supervise CCPs’ default management procedures (DMP) adequately and that most EU CCPs have performed fire drills. However, the … Continue Reading
The European Commission has published legislative proposals for a Regulation and a Directive that it has adopted introducing a revised EU prudential regime for investment firms. The two legislative acts would amend the existing prudential framework for investment firms set out in the Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) and the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an opinion on position limits on ICE Brent Crude contracts. The opinion follows a notification ESMA received from the FCA under Article 57(5) of MiFID II regarding the exact position limits the FCA intends to set for the ICE Brent Crude commodity futures and options contracts … Continue Reading
There has been published on the legislation.gov.uk website, The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) (Markets in Financial Instruments) (No 2) Regulations 2017 (the Regulations). The Regulations complete the UK implementation of MiFID II and also correct minor errors in the UK implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation. The Regulations do three main … Continue Reading
The European Commission (Commission) has published a roadmap for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union, including concrete steps to be taken over the next 18 months. The overall aim of the roadmap is to enhance the unity, efficiency and the democratic accountability of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union by 2025. In addition to the roadmap, … Continue Reading
The House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee (Committee) has published its third report of session 2017-19. Among other things the report covers the European Commission’s proposals concerning the screening of foreign direct investment. The Committee shares the Government’s concerns that the Commission’s proposal in its current form could be detrimental to UK interests both at … Continue Reading
The European Commission has published an interpretative communication on agricultural land sales. The communication is in response to requests by Member States for clarification regarding what they can and cannot do to regulate the sale of farmland. The right to acquire, use or dispose of agricultural land falls under the free movement of capital principles … Continue Reading
On 7 November 2017, Conor Foley, Global Head of Government Relations and Public Policy at Norton Rose Fulbright, will deliver the key note addressed at the 6th Annual EU Financial Regulation Conference that is taking place in Brussels. To access the details the conference, please click here. … Continue Reading
The European Central Bank (ECB) has published an opinion concerning the European Commission’s proposed Regulation amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). We blogged the Commission’s legislative proposal on 5 May 2017 (see here). The ECB generally supports the Commission’s initiative to introduce a number of targeted modifications to EMIR with a view to simplifying … Continue Reading
A new webinar recording involving Norton Rose Fulbright LLP and EEX Group is now available. The webinar is particularly relevant to those in the commodities markets and covers: MiFID II: scope and key provisions MiFID II: authorisation requirement MiFID II: position limits and position reporting Implications for EEX Group customers… Continue Reading
