On 20 January 2021, the European Commission issued a targeted consultation seeking general and technical views on the way to establish a European single access point (ESAP) for companies’ financial and sustainable investment-related information made public pursuant to EU legislation. The ESAP will address primarily information published by companies that are capital market participants, as … Continue Reading
On 15 January 2021, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) announced that it had updated its requirements’ document for Registered Reporting Mechanisms (RRMs) and will resume their registration. ACER’s announcement follows the adoption and entry into application of the European Commission’s Decision on fees due to ACER for collecting, handling, processing … Continue Reading
On 6 January 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its first set of Financial Instruments Reference Data System (FIRDS) files following the end of the Brexit transition period. ESMA states that the FIRDS delta files contain information about: Termination of all UK financial instruments: (ISIN, MIC) records for MICs in the UK … Continue Reading
On 6 January 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement promoting transparency in the IFRS financial statements of banks regarding accounting for the third series of the European Central Bank’s targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III). The main recommendations for affected banks are to: Provide entity-specific disclosures of the significant … Continue Reading
To all of our global readers we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will resume posting material on the UK page following the festive period on 4 January 2021 although if there are any significant developments we will endeavour to provide an … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report on guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers (CSPs). The purpose of the guidelines is to help firms identify, address and monitor the risks that may arise from their cloud outsourcing arrangements and to support convergent approach to the supervision … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2020, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation establishing regulatory technical standards (RTS) amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/583 as regards adjustment of liquidity thresholds and trade percentiles used to determine the size specific to the instrument applicable to certain non-equity instruments. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/583 sets out the transparency requirements applicable … Continue Reading
On 18 December 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a consultation paper on algorithmic trading. MiFID II / MiFIR require the European Commission to present reports to the European Parliament and the Council, after consulting ESMA, on a number of provisions. Article 90(1)(c) of MiFID II provides in particular for the submission … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has renewed its decision to temporarily require the holders of net short positions in shares traded on a European Union (EU) regulated market, to notify the relevant Member State competent authority (NCA) if the position reaches, exceeds or falls below 0.1% of the issued … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2020, the Council of the EU published the text of the proposed Regulation on the recovery and resolution of central counterparties. The European Parliament adopted the Regulation at second reading on 14 December 2020 in accordance with the Council of the EU’s first reading position. The Regulation will enter into force twenty … Continue Reading
On 16 December 2020, the Financial Stability Board published its latest global monitoring report on non-bank financial intermediation. The report presents the results of the annual FSB monitoring exercise to assess global trends and risks in non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), covering 29 jurisdictions that account for 80% of global GDP. The annual monitoring exercise focuses … Continue Reading
On 15 December 2020, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation amending Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/565 as regards the thresholds for weekly position reporting. Article 58(1) of MiFID II provides that trading venues publish a weekly report with the aggregate positions held by different categories of persons in a commodity derivative, emission allowance or emission … Continue Reading
On 14 December 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its annual market share calculation for EU registered credit rating agencies (CRAs). The market share calculation is required to be published by ESMA on an annual basis in accordance with Article 8d(2) of the CRA Regulation. Its purpose is to assist issuers or … Continue Reading
On 11 December 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a press release announcing that Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited (EUI), the central securities depository (CSD) established in the United Kingdom (UK), will be recognised as a third-country CSD (TC-CSD) after the end of the UK’s transition from the European Union (EU) on … Continue Reading
On 3 December 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a speech by Elizabeth McCaul (Member of the Supervisory Board of the ECB) entitled Bank boards and supervisory expectations. In her speech Elizabeth McCaul explains, among other things, that the ECB will publish a revised guide on fit and proper assessments clarifying supervisory expectations on … Continue Reading
On 3 December 2020, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a consultation report on market data in the secondary equity markets. The consultation report describes several issues relating to market data in equity markets and asks for industry views on both the issues and possible solutions. These issues include: What market data is … Continue Reading
On 3 December 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) issued a statement regarding supervisory cooperation on operational resilience. The statement provides: “Banks have made progress in enhancing operational resilience in recent years including through their response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the ECB is encouraged by recognition of the shared … Continue Reading
On 26 November 2020, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the 2021 payment scheme rulebooks and the related implementation guidelines. All 2021 payment scheme rulebooks enter into force on 21 November 2021. Annex IV of each 2021 rulebook contains a table summarising all changes made in each 2021 rulebook compared to the 2019 rulebook.… Continue Reading
On 26 November 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1766 of 25 November 2020 determining, for a limited period of time, that the regulatory framework applicable to central securities depositories of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is equivalent in accordance with Regulation … Continue Reading
On 25 November 2020, the European Parliament published the amendments that it had adopted on the proposed Directive amending MiFID II as regards information requirements, product governance and position limits to help the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The next step is for the Council of the EU to adopt the proposed Directive. … Continue Reading
We have updated our cross border comparative guide on individual accountability which is located on the NRF Institute. The comparative guide, Senior management responsibility in financial services, allows clients to better understand how senior management responsibility in different types of financial services firm other than insurers is being treated in different jurisdictions around the world. … Continue Reading
On 23 November 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on significant risk transfer (SRT) in securitisation transactions, which includes a set of detailed recommendations to the European Commission on the harmonisation of practices and processes applicable to the SRT assessment. The EBA proposals aim to enhance the efficiency, consistency and predictability of … Continue Reading
On 22 November 2020, the G20 leaders issued a declaration following their summit in Riyadh on 21 – 22 November 2020. Paragraphs 16 to 18 of the declaration cover financial sector issues. Key points include: The pandemic has reaffirmed the need to enhance global cross-border payment arrangements to facilitate cheaper, faster, more inclusive and more … Continue Reading
On 18 November 2020, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) published the fifth edition of its guidance on the application of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT). In this edition, ACER provides more detailed guidance concerning the definition of information and inside information under REMIT. In … Continue Reading
