The Prospectus Regulation does not apply to an offer of securities to the public with a total consideration in the EU of less than 1 million EUR calculated over a period of 12 months. Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Regulation also provides that Member States may decide to exempt offers of securities to the public … Continue Reading
On 1 February 2019, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a consultation report on sustainable finance in emerging markets and the role of securities regulators (the Consultation). Based on analysis by IOSCO’s Growth and Emerging Markets Committee (GEMC), the Consultation proposes a set of 11 recommendations that member jurisdictions should consider when issuing … Continue Reading
On 24 January 2019, the Ministry of Economic and Finance issued a press release to inform the market that the Italian Government is preparing the necessary measures to ensure the continuity of markets and intermediary business should a hard Brexit occur (i.e. exit with no deal). The press release is available at this link (in … Continue Reading
On 22 January 2019, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published a memoranda of FAQs on Brexit. The FAQs address the possible UK position post-Brexit, and the responses to these FAQs involve an assessment of the various outcomes of the exit negotiations (including a no-deal outcome either on 29 March 2019 if the draft … Continue Reading
On 17 January 2019, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a report setting out its views on good practices for audit committees of listed companies in supporting external audit quality. The report notes that whilst the auditor has primary responsibility for audit quality, the audit committee should promote and support quality and thereby … Continue Reading
On 28 November 2018, the European Commission published a draft Delegated Regulation supplementing the Prospectus Regulation. The Annexes to the Delegated Regulation have been published separately, containing information on registration documents: securities notes; additional information to the registration documents and securities notes; EU Growth prospectus; and other categories of information. The draft text notes that … 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 13 September 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a press release outlining the recommendations of the private sector working group on euro-risk free rates (the Working Group). The Working Group has recommended that the euro short-term rate (ESTER) should become the new euro risk-free rate and replace EONIA. The recommendations of the Working … Continue Reading
On 17 July 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report containing final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) under the Prospectus Regulation (PR). The final report follows an ESMA consultation paper that was published on 15 December 2017. The final draft RTS cover: key financial information for the summary of a … Continue Reading
On 13 July 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation paper on guidelines on risk factors under the Prospectus Regulation, as mandated under Article 16(4) of the Prospectus Regulation. The draft guidelines expand on concepts and instructions provided for in Article 16 of the Prospectus Regulation, namely: specificity, materiality, corroboration and … Continue Reading
On 13 July 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation paper on draft technical advice on minimum information content for prospectus exemption. The consultation paper sets out a draft version of EMSA’s technical advice on the minimum information content of documents provided for the purpose of describing a takeover, merger or … Continue Reading
On 10 May 2018, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a press release concerning its latest Annual Conference which discussed current issues facing securities market regulators. IOSCO reports that the public sessions of the Annual Conference focused on four key issues: the sale of unsuitable products to retail investors; the challenge of fintech … Continue Reading
On 3 April 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report containing technical advice under the Prospectus Regulation. The technical advice covers the areas of format and content of a prospectus, the EU growth prospectus and the scrutiny and approval of a prospectus. In its technical advice on the format and … Continue Reading
On 28 March 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority updated its Q&As on prospectus related issues to include a new Q&A on profit forecasts. The new Q&A provides clarification on how to identify profit forecasts in the context of prospectuses.… Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued technical advice to the European Commission on how to improve the Short-Selling Regulation. ESMA’s technical advice includes proposals around the following: Exemption for market making activities. ESMA proposes including the different types of on-venue market making activities described in MiFID II in the definition of ‘market-making … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an updated version of its Q&As document on prospectuses. The purpose of the Q&As is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of the Prospectus Directive (PD) and its implementing measures. It does this by providing responses to questions posed by the general … Continue Reading
Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 on the transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse (SFTR) aims to get a better understanding of the effects of shadow banking (non-bank credit intermediation) and to address the risks posed by securities financing transactions (SFTs). The European Commission (Commission) has now published a report that it is mandated to produce … Continue Reading
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a final report that sets out the findings from its thematic review into the progress jurisdictions have made in adopting legislation, regulation and other policies in relation to IOSCO’s Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets (the Principles). The review found that a majority of jurisdictions … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published three consultation papers on the Prospectus Regulation: consultation paper on the format and content of the prospectus. On 28 February 2017, ESMA received a request for technical advice from the European Commission (Commission), including in relation to the format and content of the prospectus, base prospectus … Continue Reading
On 30 June 2017, Regulation 2017/1129 of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC, was published in the Official Journal of the EU.… Continue Reading
The Council of the EU has adopted the proposed Regulation that repeals and replaces the Prospectus Directive and the Prospectus Regulation. The new Regulation on prospectuses enters into force on the 20th day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The majority of its provisions apply from 24 months after the … Continue Reading
On 15 January 2016, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) received a formal request from the European Commission (Commission) to provide technical advice to assist the Commission in formulating an EU Regulation on fees for trade repositories (TRs) under the Regulation on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse (the SFTR). The technical … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a final report on standards implementing the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR) and certain amendments to the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The final report includes: a summary of feedback on ESMA’s proposals on the procedure and criteria for registration or extension of registration as a … Continue Reading
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a practical guide that summarises the main rules and practices applicable across the EEA in relation to notifications of major holdings under national law in accordance with the Transparency Directive. Part I of the guide contains a fact sheet for each EEA state, setting out the national requirements … Continue Reading
