On 26 October 2022, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal to make instant payments in euro available to all citizens and businesses holding a bank account in the EU and EEA countries. The proposal aims to ensure that instant payments in euro are affordable, secure, and processed without hindrance across the EU. The proposal, … Continue Reading
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) makes use of its product intervention powers under the European Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR): Under a general administrative act (Allgemeinverfügung) dated 30 September 2022 (link to English convenience translation), BaFin prohibited the marketing, distribution and sale of futures to retail clients domiciled in … Continue Reading
Germany further broadens the scope of its new legislative regime for electronic securities: On 18 June 2022, the German Regulation on Crypto Fund Units (Verordnung über Kryptofondsanteile – KryptoFAV; link) entered into force. The KryptoFAV introduces the possibility to issue units in common funds (Sondervermögen) via decentralised crypto securities registers which are typically based on distributed ledger … Continue Reading
As 2021 draws to a close, we look ahead to the trends and new requirements that we may see over the next twelve months for financial institutions (FIs) in the white collar crime sphere as regulators, legislators and individuals continue to adapt to the pandemic and prevailing public opinion. 1. An increase in fraud-related investigations … Continue Reading
On 19 January 2021, the European Commission published a Communication on the European economic and financial system: fostering openness, strength and resilience . The Communication and strategy set out therein for development of the European financial markets is designed as one of the early steps of the Commission under Ursula von der Leyen’s leadership to … Continue Reading
On Thursday, 21 January, the Portuguese presidency of the Council holds its first working group on the review of the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA). The Council is still in its initial phase of examining the proposal. The Council Presidency Is taking an issue-by-issue approach, … Continue Reading
We are pleased to announce that the Regulation Tomorrow Podcast is now available on the Apple Podcasts app (and also on iTunes). Please click here to listen and subscribe to the podcast. Episode 1 focusses on Brexit, featuring interviews with Jonathan Herbst, Imogen Garner and Hannah Meakin.… Continue Reading
On 1 September 2020 the European Services and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a call for evidence to gather insights and feedback from market participants relating to the practical implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR provisions for equity and non-equity instruments. ESMA seek responses on a dedicated template on or before 31 October 2020. Historically, ESMA … Continue Reading
On 26 August the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report relating to the postponement of the effective date of new regulatory technical standards (RTS) on settlement discipline pursuant to Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR). The RTS was initially planned to come into force on 13 September 2020, but in May 2020 … Continue Reading
On 2 June 2020 the European Parliament posed questions relating to the registration and monitoring of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in Member States as required by the provisions of the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). VASPs include virtual currencies, fiat currencies and custodian wallet providers. Responses were received from the Financial Markets Law … Continue Reading
On 26 August the Institute of International Finance (IIF) provided feedback to the European Commission on its Action Plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, published in May 2020. The IIF notes that a more coordinated approach to implement and oversea the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism … Continue Reading
On 20 August, the European Banking Authority (EBA) updated data relating to the 37 largest institutions in the EU whose leverage ratios exceed EUR 200 billion. This in turn will be used to identify a smaller group of banks which are considered to be global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs). This is the first year that … Continue Reading
In accordance with its habit to upload links to EIOPA publications relating to the aligned policy of European supervisors in light of the current coronavirus crisis, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) on 2 April 2020 published a note in which it referred to EIOPA’s statement of the same date … Continue Reading
On 18 March 2020 and 21 March 2020 the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) published notes in which it referred to and appropriated EIOPA publications on Actions to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus/COVID-19 on the EU insurance sector (dated 17 March 2020) and Recommendations on supervisory flexibility regarding the deadline … Continue Reading
After the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had issued a public statement regarding the application of MiFID II requirements on the recording of telephone conversations on 20 March 2020 (see the related publication in our blog), the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) published additional guidance to market participants on the same … Continue Reading
Before the impact of Coronavirus/COVID-19 materialized and lead to a shut down of much of the public life in Germany, on 6 March 2020, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) published its Circular 01/2020 (VA) on Minimum Requirements under Supervisory Law on the System of Governance of small Insurance Undertakings (Circular). … Continue Reading
After having taken initial steps to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial sector in Germany (see the related publication in our blog), the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) has taken further relief measures. In order to give supervised entities a better overview of these measures, … Continue Reading
After having stated that it will closely monitor the risk situation caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with a view to potential reactions, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) has now taken initial steps to deal with the impact of the pandemic on the financial sector in Germany. Relief for … Continue Reading
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a guidance notice on dealing with sustainability risks (ESG Guidance Notice). The binding German version was published on 20 December 2019 and later editorially modified on 13 January 2020. Further, BaFin has now also made available an English convenience translation. The German regulator had launched a consultation based on … Continue Reading
As previously advertised, this month’s financial services briefing will take place tomorrow in the form of a webinar rather than a seminar. In this webinar we will discuss the proposed approach to the prudential classification of investment firms and the new capital requirements methodology. We will then look at the new reporting requirements and remuneration provisions. … Continue Reading
The German regulator BaFin has published an English version of its guidelines published in November 2018, Link. The guidance specifies the contractual provisions which BaFin expects to be included in agreements between German regulated insurers, reinsurers and credit institutions and cloud service providers.… Continue Reading
On 11 September 2019, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a consultation paper (CR04/19) recommending that trading venues and their participants synchronise the business clocks used to record the time and date of a reportable event with co-ordinated universal time (UTC). The proposal follows a recommendation from an earlier IOSCO report published in … Continue Reading
The amount of insurance commissions paid to insurance intermediaries for the placement of life insurance contracts has been a thorn in the side of consumer protection groups and the German insurance regulator BaFin for years. Another area which came increasingly in the focus of the regulator’s attention are payment protection policies and the related remuneration … Continue Reading
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published a new guidance note (Merkblatt) on the authorization procedure for credit institutions. The guidance note provides details on the regulatory requirements for the licensing of credit institutions (e.g. information about the intended business and the applicant, business plan, governance structure, management pursuant, holders of significant participation, capital … Continue Reading
