On 7 March 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a statement on its approach to the application of some key MiFID II / MiFIR and Benchmark Regulation (BMR) provisions in the event that the UK exits the EU without a deal. Specifically the statement covers: the MiFID II C(6) carve-out. To be … Continue Reading
On 6 March 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a speech by its Chair, Steven Maijoor, which discusses priorities for the asset management sector. Mr Maijoor focuses his remarks on how people’s investments in financial products progress over time, and the role of costs. Firstly, Mr Maijoor talks through ESMA’s first annual … Continue Reading
On 6 March 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published final guidelines specifying how institutions should quantify the estimation of loss given default (LGD) appropriate for conditions of an economic downturn. In particular, the guidelines focus on requirements for the quantification of the calibration target used for downturn LGD estimation. The guidelines are an addendum … Continue Reading
On 5 March 2019, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (Basel Committee) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a joint press release on the final implementation phases of the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The press release notes that: the Basel Committee and IOSCO realise that market participants may need to … Continue Reading
On 5 March 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a consultation on updating its guidelines on harmonised definitions and templates for the reporting of funding plans. The majority of the proposed changes are designed to align the definitions and breakdowns used in the guidelines with those used in FINREP to facilitate the implementation and … Continue Reading
On 4 March 2019, the Council of the EU announced that it had adopted a Regulation on aligning the costs of cross-border payments in euros between euro and non-euro countries and increasing the transparency of charges related to currency conversion services across the EU. The reform will align the charges for cross-border payments in euros … Continue Reading
On 4 March 2019, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/348 of 25 October 2018 supplementing the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the criteria for assessing the impact of an institution’s failure on financial markets, on other institutions … Continue Reading
On 1 March 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it had made available the results of the annual transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments. The calculations include: the liquidity assessment as per Articles 1 to 5 of Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/567 supplementing MiFIR; the determination of the most relevant market … Continue Reading
On 1 March 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it would delay the publication of the annual calculation of the large in scale (LIS) and size specific to the instruments (SSTI) thresholds for bonds. The delay is due to the IT systems needing more time than expected to complete the required … Continue Reading
On 1 March 2019, the Basel Committee published a press release of its meeting of 27 – 28 February in which the Basel Committee discussed a range of topics including: the implementation status of margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The Basel Committee will publish a joint statement in March with IOSCO to clarify certain … Continue Reading
On 28 February 2019, the following were published in the Official Journal of the EU: Decision 21/2019 of the EEA Joint Committee concerning the incorporation of the Interchange Fee Regulation into the EEA Agreement. The date of entry into force is specified as 9 February 2019, provided that all notifications under Article 103(1) of the … Continue Reading
The latest issue of Global Asset Management Quarterly is now available here. In this issue we cover: UK and European overview Brexit: Financial Services Contracts Regime Brexit: EU Level 3 measures London financial services team client briefing: buy-side focus FCA Asset Management Market Study: FCA tightens the rules further VAT: Apportionment of a single supply … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, the Presidency of the Council of the EU announced that provisional agreement had been reached with the European Parliament on the legislative proposals for a new prudential regime for investment firms. The press release makes the following points: investment firms will be subject to the same key measures in the CRD … Continue Reading
On 25 February 2019, the Council of the EU announced that had reached a preliminary agreement with the European Parliament on the proposal creating a new category of financial benchmarks aimed at giving greater information on an investment portfolio’s carbon footprint. The announcement states that the two EU institutions have agreed on a harmonised tool to pursue … Continue Reading
On 25 February 2019, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has announced it is seeking feedback on the effects of the G20 financial regulatory reforms on the provision of financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The evaluation forms part of a broader FSB examination of the effects of post-crisis reforms on financial intermediation. The FSB … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, the European Commission published the speech given by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (VD) at the 3rd Annual Afore Fintech Conference. VD begins his speech by covering the Commission’s Fintech Action Plan. Last year the Commission asked the European Supervisory Authorities to report on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs in Member States. VD … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, the European Commission published for consultation the draft text of its Implementing Decision on the recognition of the legal, supervisory and enforcement arrangements of Japan for derivatives transactions supervised by the Japan Financial Services Agency as equivalent to the valuation, dispute resolution and margin requirements of Article 11 of the European … Continue Reading
On 25 February 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a consultation on draft guidelines on credit risk mitigation in the context of the advanced internal rating-based (A-IRB) approach. The draft guidelines are intended to clarify the credit risk mitigation (CRM) framework in the context of the A-IRB approach. This is done by focussing on … Continue Reading
The Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation require that resolution authorities, before taking resolution action or exercising the power to write down or convert relevant capital instruments, ensure that a fair, prudent and realistic valuation of the assets and liabilities of the institution is carried out by a person independent … Continue Reading
On 25 February 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published revised guidelines on outsourcing arrangements. The guidelines update the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) guidelines on outsourcing that were issued in 2006. The EBA recommendation on outsourcing to cloud service providers, published in December 2017, has also been integrated into the revised guidelines. The … Continue Reading
On 20 February 2019, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published a framework to identify the drivers of conduct risk so that EIOPA and European National Competent Authorities (NCAs) can focus on minimising these risks to consumers.… Continue Reading
On 19 February 2019, the Bank of Italy published a communication (the “Communication”) addressed to UK-based banks, payment institutions and e-money institutions operating in Italy under a branch or services passport as well as by availing themselves of a network of agents (the “UK Intermediaries”). The Communication – transmitted individually to UK Intermediaries on … Continue Reading
On 18 February 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it had agreed to renew the prohibition of the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients, in effect since 2 July 2018, for a further three-month period. ESMA intends to adopt the renewal measure in the official languages of … Continue Reading
On 19 February 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its annual report and work programme to highlight its direct supervisory activities during 2018 regarding credit rating agencies (CRAs) and trade repositories (TRs) and outline its main priorities in these areas for 2019. In addition, ESMA outlines its activities regarding the monitoring and … Continue Reading
