On 14 February 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a final report containing updated guidelines that apply in relation to Article 28 of the Regulation on money market funds and establish common reference parameters for the stress test scenarios to be included in the stress tests conducted by money market funds (MMFs) or managers of MMFs in accordance with that Article. The updated guidelines apply from two months after the date of their publication in all EU official languages on ESMA’s website.

MMFs and managers of MMFs are expected to measure the impact of the common reference stress test scenarios specified in the guidelines. On the basis of these measurements, they are expected to fill in the reporting template referred to in Article 37 of the MMF Regulation and set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/7084 and send the results to Member State competent authorities with their quarterly reports required by Article 37.

The new parameters set out in the updated guidelines included in the final report will have to be used for the purpose of the first period to be reported following the start of the application of the updated guidelines (i.e. 2 months after the publication of their translations). Until then, managers should use the parameters set in the 2020 guidelines and report the results accordingly.