On 7 December 2018, the European Commission published an evaluation roadmap for the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive. The evaluation will assess whether the Directive’s original objectives have been achieved, how the Directive is functioning from a cost-benefits and burden reduction perspective and how the Directive works together with other legislation in the field … Continue Reading
On 4 December 2018, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published final guidelines that specify the conditions, set out in Article 33(6) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389, to exempt account payment service providers (ASPSPs) that have opted for a dedicated interface from the obligation to set up the contingency mechanism described in Article 33(4) of … Continue Reading
On 3 December 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its annual market share calculation for EU registered credit rating agencies (CRAs). The purpose of the report is to provide guidance on Article 8d of the Regulation on CRAs which provides that issuers or related third parties are required to consider appointing … Continue Reading
On 30 November 2018, the European Commission published a Delegated Regulation supplementing the PSD2 with regard to RTS setting out technical requirements on development, operation and maintenance of the electronic central register within the field of payment services and on access to the information contained therein. The Commission is empowered to adopt such a Delegated … Continue Reading
On 28 November 2018, the European Commission published a communication (the Communication) regarding progress on the Capital Markets Union (CMU). The Communication notes that thus far, only three out of thirteen tabled legislative proposals to form the framework of the CMU have been agreed between the European Parliament and the European Council (the Prospectus Regulation, … Continue Reading
On 28 November 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, on climate change and central banking. Mr Mersch notes that climate change poses the risk of considerable social costs and economic disruption. The challenges of climate change are social issues. Mr Mersch … Continue Reading
On 22 November 2018, the European Commission adopted the following communications: The Single Market in a changing world – a unique asset in need of renewed political commitment. The communication highlights three areas of focus upon which action is required to deepen and strengthen the Single Market: (i) swiftly adopt proposals on the table. The … Continue Reading
On 23 November 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its finalised Recommendations for national supervisors: Reporting on the use of compensation tools to address potential misconduct risks. The Recommendations are directed at national supervisory authorities and set out the types of data that can support improved monitoring on the use of compensation tools to … Continue Reading
On 22 November 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a speech by Ignazio Angeloni, a member of the ECB Supervisory Board, on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). The speech is centred on the SSM’s strategic objectives and key points to note include: restoring confidence in the banking sector: bank capital has grown between 2014 … Continue Reading
On 24 May 2018, the European Commission released a set of legislative proposals on financing sustainable growth. Among these legislation proposals was a draft Regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment. On 21 November 2018, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published a draft report (dated 16 … Continue Reading
On 20 November 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report evaluating the effects of financial regulatory reforms on infrastructure finance (the Report). The evaluation was carried out under the FSB framework for the post-implementation evaluation of the effects of the G20 financial regulatory reforms. It is part of a broader evaluation of the … Continue Reading
The Italian financial services regulator, the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob), has recently been in the news for suspending an initial coin offering (ICO) to the Italian public. The full text of the Consob resolution (no. 20660 dated 31 October 2018) is available in Italian here. Essentially, Consob held that the … Continue Reading
On 15 November 2018, the PRA updated its strengthening accountability webpage to inform firms that the language within the Level 1 RPS template and data tables had been updated. These are available under the ‘Self-assessment templates and tables’ area of the strengthening accountability webpage. The changes were made in line with the PRA’s recent Letter … Continue Reading
On 15 November 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its seventh progress report on the implementation of resolution reforms (the Report). The Report provides an overview of the progress in implementing the FSB’s resolution policies in the banking (Section I) and insurance (Section II) sectors and for CCPs (Section III). Section IV sets out … Continue Reading
On 14 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published two updated Q&As on: MiFID II and MiFIR market structures topics; and MiFID II and MiFIR transparency topics. The updated Q&As on market structures topics insert a new question concerning direct electronic access and algorithmic trading. The new question enquires as to whether … Continue Reading
On 14 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published updated Q&As on the Short Selling Regulation (SSR). The updated Q&As insert one new question concerning the identification of the relevant competent authority, asking which is the relevant competent authority for the financial instruments mentioned in point v) of Article 2(1)(j) of the … Continue Reading
On 13 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an updated MiFID II supervisory briefing on suitability requirements. The purpose of the briefing is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices. It summarises the key elements of the rules and explains the associated objectives and outcomes. It also includes indicative questions that … Continue Reading
On 12 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an updated version of its Q&As on the implementation of the Regulation on improving securities settlement in the EU and on central securities depositories (CSDR). The updated Q&As insert two new questions (and multiple sub-questions) concerning: the provision of services in other member … Continue Reading
On 9 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) agreed to renew the prohibition of the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients for a further three month period. The renewal measure will be published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) and will start to apply from 2 … Continue Reading
On 9 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a call for evidence on periodic auctions for equity instruments. The call for evidence aims to gather relevant information to inform ESMA in developing its understanding of frequent batch auction trading systems, to assess whether and to which extent these systems can be … Continue Reading
On 9 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its MiFID II Q&As on temporary product intervention measures on the marketing, distribution or sale of contracts for differences (CFDs) and binary options to retail clients. The updated Q&As: modify a question (5.2) on what is considered payments for the purpose of entering … Continue Reading
On 9 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its MiFID II Q&As on temporary product intervention measures on the marketing, distribution or sale of contracts for differences (CFDs) and binary options to retail clients. The updated Q&As: modify a question (5.2) on what is considered payments for the purpose of entering … Continue Reading
On 7 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published updated Q&As on the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR). The updated Q&As add one entry relating to the use of benchmarks in relation to bilateral agreement on exchanged collateral, asking if the reference to an index in a bilateral agreement on the interest to be … Continue Reading
On 6 November 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the official translations of guidelines on certain aspects of the MiFID II suitability requirement. The guidelines apply to the provision of investment advice, and portfolio management under MiFID II, and apply from 7 March 2019. The ESMA guidelines on certain aspects of the … Continue Reading
