EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates

The European Commission (Commission) has published its work programme for 2025. The work programme consists of a communication discussing the Commission’s main plans and priorities and is accompanied by an Annex listing new initiatives and their expected timings, as well as initiatives the Commission intends to withdraw.

The communication emphasises that the

On 31 January 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its 2026-2028 Programming Document.

In the foreword of the Programming Document ESMA’s Executive Director, Natasha Cazenave, notes that the years 2026-2028 will be a period of transformation for ESMA, as several new supervisory  mandates will be added to ESMA’s remit

The European Commission (Commission) has published its Competitiveness Compass (Compass). The Compass is a policy document that describes the overall Commission policy on increasing the EU’s competitiveness over the coming five-year term. The Compass comes as a response to the reports published by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi, which both warned

Introduction

Following a process that took nearly six months and started with the June 2024 European Parliament elections, the new European Commission (Commission) started its five-year term on 1 December 2024. The EU institutions have spent the previous month selecting, vetting, hearing, and voting on the new College of Commissioners, which consists of

On 15 October 2024, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) issued an opinion regarding the European Commission’s (EC) rejection of the draft Implementing Technical Standards (the Draft ITS) for the register of information under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, DORA). DORA requires financial entities to maintain and

On Tuesday 17 September, Commission Present-elect Ursula von der Leyen published her long-awaited list of European Commissioner-designates and the allocation of their portfolios. The presentation of the Commissioner-designates and their responsibilities is a key step in the transition to the 2024-2029 legislative term. The process for selecting candidate Commissioners has been complex so far, as

As of 9 September 2024, investment firms may register as a Designated Publishing Entity (DPE) with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). The review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR review) has introduced the DPE status.

Previously, investment firms that met the definition of a

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has entered into force in January 2023 and will apply from 17 January 2025 onwards.

As January 2025 is fast approaching, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) is organising two seminars in October 2024 which aim to answer any questions the financial

In its newsletter of 30 August 2024, the Dutch Authority on the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) reminds Dutch market parties that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published consultation packages regarding the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MIFIR) and the second Markets in

The Supervisory Review & Evaluation Process (SREP) is a periodic survey that investment firms need to complete. In 2023, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, AFM) sent two questionnaires to approximately 250 investment firms and has now published generic results of that survey.

The results of