On the 28 October 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its public statement setting out the European common enforcement priorities (ECEP) for the 2022 annual financial reports of issuers admitted to trading on EEA regulated markets. The recommendations in the statement will be considered by national enforcers when they monitor and assess … Continue Reading
On 8 July 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the following reports: Sanctions and measures imposed under MiFID II in 2021. The report provides an overview of the applicable legal framework and the sanctions and measures imposed by national competent authorities (NCAs) under the MiFID II framework in 2021. The data reported … Continue Reading
This week, the European Commission is reportedly expected to present a legal proposal to make the evasion of sanctions an EU crime. This step will equip EU countries with a legal tool to confiscate frozen assets as part of the measures taken against Russia. It is estimated that to date around €30 billion in assets … Continue Reading
On 23 November 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority published its annual report on administrative and criminal sanctions, as well as other administrative measures, issued across the European Union under the Market Abuse Regulation in 2020. The annual report describes an increase in the number of administrative sanctions and measures in 2020 compared to … Continue Reading
A new episode of RT Plus is available now to stream and download. This episode features Celia Cohen and Samuel Ramer, both of whom are partners in NRF’s US practice. This podcast will be of particular interest to US based firms but also to non-US firms that have some dealings with the US. In this … Continue Reading
On 20 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its latest report in the use of supervisory sanctions by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) under the UCITS IV Directive. The report has been prepared in accordance with Article 99e(1) of the UCITS IV Directive and covers the period from 1 January 2020 … Continue Reading
On 20 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its second annual report on the use by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) of sanctions under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The report has been prepared in accordance with Article 48(3) AIFMD. It contains information on the penalties and measures imposed … Continue Reading
On 19 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its third report on the use of sanctions and measures by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) under MiFID II. Overall, in 23 (out of 30) EU/EEA Member States, NCAs imposed a total of 613 sanctions and measures in 2020 for an aggregated value … Continue Reading
On 12 May 2021, Advocate General Hogan issued his opinion in the first case by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considering the Blocking Regulation. The Opinion, in Case C-123/20 Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmBH [2018], sets out proposals for how the CJEU should respond to a reference from the Regional … Continue Reading
Throughout 2020 and 2021, financial services firms have had to respond and adapt to a number of regulatory challenges in an unprecedented fashion. Firms now have to navigate a diverging regulatory landscape as a result of Brexit, at the same time as continuing to respond to an array of pandemic-related risks that have arisen. Nevertheless, … Continue Reading
On 29 March 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its advice to the European Commission concerning the application of administrative and criminal sanctions under MiFID II/MiFIR. The legislative background to the advice is Article 90 of MiFID II which provides that the Commission, after consulting with ESMA, will present a report to … Continue Reading
Information requests from regulators can raise a host of complex legal and practical issues for entities and individuals. Our experts in this field have set out the key considerations around the production of information to UK and US regulators, including information-gathering powers, privilege issues and increased global data sharing. Information-gathering powers Many UK regulators have … Continue Reading
In recent years, Germany has increasingly focused on implementing regulations and provisions linked to money laundering prevention. In doing so, Germany has followed EU requirements including the recently passed 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Directive [EU] 2018/843 of 30 May 2018). Whereas both EU and German legislation have been traditionally focused on the prevention of the … Continue Reading
On 22 October 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a statement outlining its priorities for European enforcers to consider when examining the 2019 financial reports of listed companies. The common enforcement priorities related to 2019 IFRS financial statements include: specific issues related to IFRS 16 Leases; follow-up of specific issues related to … Continue Reading
On 21 January 2019, the Wolfsberg Group published new guidance on how financial institutions (FIs) should carry out sanctions screening. The fundamentals of the guidance are derived from legal/regulatory requirements, as well as expectations and global industry best practice. It is not intended to suggest that all FIs should apply all elements in the guidance … Continue Reading
