On 17 October 2023, the European Commission (Commission)published its Work Programme for 2024. The Work Programme, titled ‘Delivering today and preparing for tomorrow’, will be the last Work Programme to be issued by the current Von Der Leyen Commission. The 2024 Work Programme is therefore relatively short compared to previous years. According to
EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates
European Commission publishes proposal for EU BMR review

On 17 October 2023, the European Commission (Commission) published a proposal for a review of the European Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). The proposal is part of the Commission’s broader package of measures that seeks to rationalise reporting requirements for companies across various pieces of European financial services legislation. The Commission acknowledged…
ESMA reports on DeFi market developments and smart contracts

On 11 October 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published two articles on decentralised finance (DeFi), one on developments and risks in the EU market and another on a methodology for the categorisation of smart contracts. In these articles, ESMA highlighted risks to consumers, new forms of market…
European Parliament publishes draft report on Retail Investment Strategy

- The Markets in Financial
European Commission prepares BMR review

On 21 September 2023, the European Commission (Commission) hosted a meeting of the Expert Group of the European Securities Committee (EGESC) where it discussed the upcoming review of the European Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). By way of background, the Commission issued earlier this year a Call for Evidence, consulting…
Council commences discussions on digital euro proposal
On 25 September 2023, the Council of the European Union (Council) Working Group on Financial Services held a discussion on the European Commission (Commission) proposal on the establishment of a digital euro.
Since 2021, the Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have been preparing the establishment of the…
European Parliament ECON Committee holds first debate on CMDI package
On 20 September 2023, the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee held its first exchange of views on the European Commission’s (Commission) crisis management and deposit insurance (CMDI) legislative package. The legislative package contains amending proposals to the EU regime for the recovery and resolution of credit…
ESAs consult on first part of DORA RTS & ITS

On 19 June 2023 the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) launched a public consultation on a first batch of regulatory and implementing technical standards (RTS and ITS) under Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA). This covers the draft RTS and ITS that the ESAs…
ESAs consult on DORA criticality criteria

On 26 May 2023, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published a joint Discussion Paper on criteria for critical ICT third-party service providers and oversight fees. This Discussion Paper follows the request for technical advice that was sent by the European Commission (Commission) to the ESAs in late December 2022.
The ESAs…
ECON amendments to the revised EU AML/CFT legislation: stricter rules for crypto-asset service providers

On Tuesday, 28 March 2023, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) adopted its position on the proposed anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislative package that was published by the European Commission (Commission) in July 2021. In our earlier blog post, we provided a general overview of the measures adopted where we…