On 18 July 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its 2022 reports on the use by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) of sanctions under the UCITS Directive and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The reports are drafted pursuant to Article 99e(1) of the UCITS Directive and Article 48(3) of the … Continue Reading
On the 28 October 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its public statement setting out the European common enforcement priorities (ECEP) for the 2022 annual financial reports of issuers admitted to trading on EEA regulated markets. The recommendations in the statement will be considered by national enforcers when they monitor and assess … Continue Reading
On 6 October 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item in which the regulator comments on transactions taking place between crypto service providers registered in the Netherlands and crypto service providers based outside of the EU which are not registered (non-EU crypto service providers). DNB indicates that when a … Continue Reading
On 8 July 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the following reports: Sanctions and measures imposed under MiFID II in 2021. The report provides an overview of the applicable legal framework and the sanctions and measures imposed by national competent authorities (NCAs) under the MiFID II framework in 2021. The data reported … Continue Reading
This week, the European Commission is reportedly expected to present a legal proposal to make the evasion of sanctions an EU crime. This step will equip EU countries with a legal tool to confiscate frozen assets as part of the measures taken against Russia. It is estimated that to date around €30 billion in assets … Continue Reading
On 14 April 2022, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published its annual legislative letter (wetgevingsbrief) for 2022. DNB annually submits this letter to the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister). The letter describes European and national developments relevant to the supervision on the financial sector and the legislative changes desired by DNB to … Continue Reading
On 14 April 2022, the Dutch Minister of Finance (the Minister) sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer) in which it is announced that the enforcement of the statutory obligation to register ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) in the Dutch UBO register will commence. The Dutch UBO register for most types of Dutch legal … Continue Reading
On 12 April 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published the results of its investigation into advertisements (reclame-uitingen) of investment firms. For its investigation, the AFM reviewed advertisements of four investment firms in the fall of 2021. Each advertisement needs to independently comply with the applicable requirements. A … Continue Reading
On 18 January 2022, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a procedure for settling administrative fines in a simplified manner (the Procedure). The AFM will be able to provide offenders with the opportunity to settle an administrative fine imposed by the AFM in a simplified manner. If the … Continue Reading
On 23 November 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority published its annual report on administrative and criminal sanctions, as well as other administrative measures, issued across the European Union under the Market Abuse Regulation in 2020. The annual report describes an increase in the number of administrative sanctions and measures in 2020 compared to … Continue Reading
A new episode of RT Plus is available now to stream and download. This episode features Celia Cohen and Samuel Ramer, both of whom are partners in NRF’s US practice. This podcast will be of particular interest to US based firms but also to non-US firms that have some dealings with the US. In this … Continue Reading
On 20 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its latest report in the use of supervisory sanctions by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) under the UCITS IV Directive. The report has been prepared in accordance with Article 99e(1) of the UCITS IV Directive and covers the period from 1 January 2020 … Continue Reading
On 20 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued its second annual report on the use by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) of sanctions under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The report has been prepared in accordance with Article 48(3) AIFMD. It contains information on the penalties and measures imposed … Continue Reading
On 19 July 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its third report on the use of sanctions and measures by Member State competent authorities (NCAs) under MiFID II. Overall, in 23 (out of 30) EU/EEA Member States, NCAs imposed a total of 613 sanctions and measures in 2020 for an aggregated value … Continue Reading
On 29 June 2021, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published a revised policy that the regulator uses to determine the amount of nearly all administrative fines it imposes: the Fine Allocation Policy AFM 2021 (Boetetoemetingsbeleid AFM 2021). Market participants were given the opportunity to respond to the proposed … Continue Reading
On 31 May 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) published various news items on its website calling on investment firms (see here, here and here), managers of alternative investment funds (AIFs) and depositaries of AIFS and undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities to file their financial statements … Continue Reading
The Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) has recently published a newsletter in which it discusses a number of developments around the Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) and Investment Firms Directive (IFD). The IFR and IFD will make significant alterations to the prudential framework governing investment firms. This new prudential framework will take effect on … Continue Reading
On 15 April 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) sent a sector letter to alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) falling under the so-called ‘light’ regime. ‘Light’ AIFMs are exempted from the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive’s license obligation as laid down in Article 2:65 of the Act … Continue Reading
Throughout 2020 and 2021, financial services firms have had to respond and adapt to a number of regulatory challenges in an unprecedented fashion. Firms now have to navigate a diverging regulatory landscape as a result of Brexit, at the same time as continuing to respond to an array of pandemic-related risks that have arisen. Nevertheless, … Continue Reading
On 25 March 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) started a public consultation of a proposed revision of the policy rule used to determine the amount of nearly all administrative fines imposed by the AFM: the Fine Allocation Policy AFM 2021 (Boetetoemetingsbeleid AFM 2021, the New Policy). The … Continue Reading
On 29 March 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its advice to the European Commission concerning the application of administrative and criminal sanctions under MiFID II/MiFIR. The legislative background to the advice is Article 90 of MiFID II which provides that the Commission, after consulting with ESMA, will present a report to … Continue Reading
Information requests from regulators can raise a host of complex legal and practical issues for entities and individuals. Our experts in this field have set out the key considerations around the production of information to UK and US regulators, including information-gathering powers, privilege issues and increased global data sharing. Information-gathering powers Many UK regulators have … Continue Reading
On 27 October 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) published a news item aimed at insurers regarding Brexit. In its news item DNB calls on insurers to liaise with UK investment firms and take appropriate action to prevent bottlenecks in the service provision by UK investment firms to insurers as of 1 … Continue Reading
On 17 March 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release stating that it has discussed the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak for the Dutch economy and the financial sector with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten), the Dutch Banking Association, the Federation of Dutch Pension … Continue Reading
