On 22 October 2021, the European Commission (EC) implemented regulation (EU) 2021/1848 of 21 October 2021 on the designation of a replacement for the benchmark Euro overnight index average. 

The Euro short-term rate (€STR) as published by the European Central Bank is designated as the replacement rate for the Euro overnight index average (EONIA) in references to EONIA in any contract, and in any financial instrument as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU.

The fixed spread adjustment that shall be added to the replacement rate shall be equal to 8,5 basis points.

This Regulation shall apply as of 3 January 2022.

On 22 October 2021, the European Commission (EC) implemented Regulation (EU) 2021/1847 of 14 October 2021 on the designation of a statutory replacement for certain settings of CHF LIBOR.

The following rates are designated as the replacement rates for the CHF LIBOR in references to CHF LIBOR in any contract, and in any financial instrument as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU:

• 1-month CHF LIBOR is replaced by 1-month SARON compound Rate, as observed over the 1-month period preceding the interest period;
• 3-month CHF LIBOR is replaced by 3-month SARON Compound Rate, as observed over the 3-month period preceding the interest period;
• 6-month CHF LIBOR is replaced by 3-month SARON Compound Rate, as observed over the 3-month period preceding the interest period;
• 12-month CHF LIBOR is replaced by 3-month SARON Compound Rate, as observed over the 3-month period preceding the interest period.

A fixed spread adjustment shall be added to the replacement rates and that fixed  spread adjustment shall be equivalent to the spread published for each relevant tenor and calculated on 5 March 2021 as a historical median spread between the CHF LIBOR concerned and the respective SARON compound over a five-year lookback period for each particular term. 

This Regulation shall apply as of 1 January 2022.

On 5 October 2021, the European Commission updated on Members States' transposition status concerning:

• CRD V
• Covered Bonds Directive
• Cross-border distribution of investment funds directive
• Crowdfunding service providers directive
• ESAs review Directive
• IFD.

On 28 October 2021, the Corrigendum to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1772 of 28 June 2021 pursuant to  Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection  of personal data by the United Kingdom was published in the Official Journal.

The title is corrected as follows: 

• for: ‘Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1772 of 28 June 2021 pursuant to Regulation (EU)  2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by the United Kingdom’;
• read: ‘Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1772 of 28 June 2021 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by the United Kingdom’.

On 14 October 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR), ESMA shall maintain a Public Register to inform market participants on the clearing obligation.

The details to be included in the Public Register are further specified in Article 8 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 149/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2012 on inter alia the clearing obligation and the public register.

On 1 October 2021, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published its 2022 Work Programme. 

The Work Programme covers : 

1. Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation
2. Risk Assessment
3. Securitisation
4. Technological innovation and cybersecurity
5. External Credit Assessment Institutions
6. Financial Conglomerates
7. European Forum for Innovation Facilitators (EFIF)

On 19 October 2021, the European Commission (EC) published its 2022 Work Programme. 

The Commission set out the next steps in its bold and transformative agenda towards a post-COVID-19 Europe that is greener, fairer, more digital and more resilient. 

This Work Programme contained 42 new policy initiatives across all six headline ambitions of President von der Leyen's Political Guidelines, building on her 2021 State of the Union speech. It also reflected the lessons learnt from the unprecedented crisis caused by the pandemic, while paying particular attention to our young generation thanks to the proposed European Year of Youth 2022.

The Programme delivered on six headline ambitions:

• a European Green Deal;
• a Europe fit for the digital age;
• an economy that works for people;
• a stronger Europe in the world;
• promoting our European way of life; and
• a new push for European democracy.

EC 5 Annexes of the 2022 Work Programme comprise:

• new initiatives: example of a European cyber resilience act, an initiative on instant payments in the EU, or an initiative on harmonising certain aspects of substantive law on insolvency proceedings;
• revision of current texts;
• priority pending proposals: example of a regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector and amending Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009, (EU) No 648/2012, (EU) No 600/2014 and (EU) No 909/2014 (DORA); a regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets, and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (MICA); or a directive on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral; or a directive on consumer credits 
• withdrawals; and 
• a list of envisaged repeals. 

On 12 October 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the Compliance Table on the Revised Guidelines on stress tests scenarios under Article 28 of the MMF Regulation (ESMA 34-49-291).

On 20 October 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated the list of AIFMD MoUs signed by the EU authorities.

On 28 October 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a statement on investment recommendations made on social media platforms.

ESMA made clear what investment recommendations are, how to post them on social media platforms and what the consequences of possible breaches of the EU Market Abuse Regulation can be. 

Investor protection is at the core of ESMA’s objectives together with financial stability and ensuring stable and orderly markets. Following a rise in investment recommendations made on social media and a concern that retail investors are not aware of the risks associated with following such recommendations, ESMA considers that investment recommendations must be produced and disseminated in an objective and transparent way so that investors, before making any investment decision, can distinguish facts from opinions. It is also crucial that investors are able to easily identify the source of information and any conflicts of interest of those making the recommendations.

If the rules relating to investment recommendations are not adhered to, there can be fines or further supervisory actions, which in case of dissemination of false or misleading information may potentially include the referral to Public Prosecutors for market manipulation.

On 8 October 2021, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) published a Position Paper on the Consolidated Tape.

MiFID II proposed the creation of a consolidated tape (CT) which would act as a single price comparison tool consolidating data across the EU, assisting market participants in analysing market liquidity and increasing investors’ capacity to evaluate the quality of execution of their orders. 

The AFME believes that the provision of an appropriately constructed CT could democratise access for all investors, regardless of resources or sophistication, with a comprehensive and standardised view of equities and fixed income trading environments. This will contribute to the creation of a truly pan-European market, in line with the goals of the Commission’s Capital Markets Union (CMU). An appropriately constructed CT could also reduce the cost of display data and reduce complexity relating to market data licences. 

It was envisaged that a private entity would emerge as a consolidated tape provider (CTP), however a private solution has yet to emerge due to the lack of a commercial incentive to act as a CTP. Therefore, AFME considers that a key priority should be to determine how a CTP can emerge including making vital decisions on governance, structure and cost. In the context of the upcoming MiFID Review, we set out below our key recommendations for the creation of an appropriately constructed CT. It is important to note that separate CTs for equities and bonds will be required to reflect the different market structures of these asset classes. 

On 12 October 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated the technical document for the Transaction Reporting Validation Rules.

Changes of validation rules:

• rule (id 27): Included clarification that the EntityStatus shall be Active on the trading date
• new rule (id 41): Date of birth in field 11 should not be later than trading date
• rule (id 43): Included clarification that the EntityStatus shall be Active on the trading date
• new rule (id 53): Date of birth in field 15 should not be later than trading date
• rule (id 56): Included clarification that the EntityStatus shall be Active on the trading date
• new rule (id 70): Date of birth in field 20 should not be later than trading date
• rule (id 72):  Included clarification that the EntityStatus shall be Active on the trading date
• new rule (id 82): Date of birth in field 24 should not be later than trading date
• rule id 111: field 35 is mandatory for debt instruments, i.e. CFI of the instrument in the reference data is DB**** (bonds), DC**** (convertible bonds), DT**** (medium term notes) and DN**** (municipal bonds)
• rule id 117: clarified that field 37  should not be optional in case of a SI (i.e. the field should be N/A) 
• rule id 140: CFI-codes JF****, RWC***, RFC***, DE***C and DS***C are included in this validation rule 
• rule id 154: CFI codes RFI*** is included in this validation rule
• rule id 166: CFI-code RF**** is included in this validation rule
• rule id 220: The error text is amended to include also MIC identification 
• rule is 228: Included clarification for cases when fields 12 and 21 are left blank 
• rule id 250: The following CFI-codes are included in this validation rule: RA****, RS****, RP****, RD****, RM****, RX****, RWB***, RWS***, RWD***, RWT***, RWI***, RWM***, RWX***, RFB***, RFS***, RFD***, RFT***, RFI***, RFM***, RFX***,  DB****, DC****, DW****, DT****, DG****, DA****, DN****, DD****, DM****, DY****, DX****,  DE***B, DE***S, DE***D, DE***T, DE***I, DE***N, DE***M, DE***X, DS***B, DS***S, DS***D, DS***T, DS***I, DS***N, DS***M, DS***X, JE****, JC****, JR****, JT****, JX****
• rule id 262: field 35  is mandatory for debt instruments, i.e. CFI of the instrument in the reference data is DB**** (bonds), DC**** (convertible bonds), DT**** (medium term notes) and DN**** (municipal bonds)
• rule id 264: CFI-codes ES****, EP****, EC****, EF****, EL****, ED****, EM****, EX**** and C**** are included in this validation rule
• rule id 270: If 'XXXX' is populated in field 36, the full instrument description must be provided and the ISIN reported in must not be present in reference data for the relevant trade date.
• new rule (id 283): If field 25 Transmission of order indicator is ‘true’, the trading venue field (field 36) should be XOFF or XXXX.
• new rule (id 284): field 36 is populated with 'XXXX' or 'XOFF' or a MIC pertaining to a Systematic Internaliser.

On 20 October 2021, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1833 of 14 July 2021 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the criteria for establishing when an activity is to be considered to be ancillary to the main business at group level was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ).

The context is that MiFID II exempts persons dealing on own account, or providing investment services to clients, in commodity derivatives, emission allowances or derivatives, provided this is an ancillary activity to their main business on a group basis (ancillary activity exemption). If they exceed the ancillary activity thresholds, they would have to apply for authorization as an investment firm.

The recent amendments to MIFID II under Directive 2021/338 (MiFID Quick Fix) include the amended regime for ancillary activity exemption. Therefore, the EC published this RTS to replace the CDR 2017/592 (RTS 20). 

Introduction of ancillary activity assessments in the form of three alternative tests: a person’s activity should be ancillary to the main business if:

• De-Minimis Threshold Test: the net outstanding notional exposure in commodity derivatives for cash settlement or emission allowances or derivatives for cash settlement traded in the EU, excluding commodity derivatives or emission allowances or derivatives traded on a trading venue, is below an annual threshold of EUR 3 billion;
• Under Trading Test: the size of trading in commodity derivatives or emission allowances accounts for 50 % or less of the total size of the other trading activities of the group;
• Under Capital Employed Test (No change to the methodology from RTS 20): the estimated capital employed for carrying out trading in commodity derivatives or emission allowances accounts for not more than 50 % of the capital employed at group level.

On 7 October 2021, the European Parliament published its Draft Report on proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as regards the extension of the transitional arrangement for management companies, investment companies and persons advising on, or selling, units of undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and non-UCITS.

Key amendments adopted by the EP are as followings:

• In order to ensure that this need for sufficient time to prepare for the obligation to produce a KID is met, it is necessary to extend the duration of the transitional arrangement by twelve months, that is until 31 December 2022
• Existing limitations of Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (PRIIPs Regulation) include, among others, the need for a clearer definition of retail investors, the product scope of the PRIIPs Regulation, the elimination of paper by default where a PRIIP is offered on a face-to-face basis, the concept of successive transactions, the provision of pre-contractual information to professional investors. The Commission is expected to submit as a matter of urgency a report to the European Parliament and to the Council accompanied, where appropriate, by a proposal to address the existing limitations.

On 21 October 2021, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have opened a call for evidence regarding the PRIIPs (Packaged retail and insurance-based investment products) Regulation.

The input provided will feed into the ESAs’ technical advice to the European Commission on a review of the key information document (KID) for PRIIPs.

The ESAs are requesting information from stakeholders on a range of topics including the practical application of the existing KID such as its use by financial advisors or the use of digital media, the scope of the PRIIPs Regulation and the degree of complexity and readability of the KID.  

The call for evidence is open until Thursday, December 16, 2021.  The survey can be found in the following link: ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/PRIIPs_October_2021.

The ESAs also plan to hold a stakeholder event in Q1 2022 before finalising the advice. 

On 26 October 2021, European Parliament published a briefing on PRIIPs: Revised DA/RTS on improved disclosure rules for retail investment products. 

This briefing has been prepared to support ECON’s work on scrutiny of the Delegated Regulation amending the RTS laid down in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/653 on Key Information Documents (KIDs) as foreseen by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 on Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs Regulation). The Delegated Regulation was adopted by the Commission on 7 September 2021 together with two quick fix amendments of the PRIIPs Regulation and the Directive 2009/65/EC on Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS Directive).

On 19 October 2021, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published new regulatory technical standards (RTS) on disclosure of investment policy by investment firms. 

The final draft RTS put forward comparable disclosures that should help stakeholders understand investment firms’ influence over the companies in which they hold voting rights and the impact of investment firms’ policies on aspects such as the governance or management of those companies.

The RTS put forward templates and tables for the disclosure of information on the investment firm’s voting behaviour, explanation of the votes, and the ratio of approved proposal, with the objective to show if the investment firm is an active shareholder that generally uses its voting rights, and how it uses them. They also included information on the use of proxy advisory firms that should help address uncertainties about potential conflicts of interest. Finally, they included information on investment firms’ voting guidelines, including, when relevant, a breakdown by geographical zone, economic sector or topic of the resolution being voted.

These disclosure requirements apply to class 2 investment firms with total assets above EUR 100 million. These firms will have to disclose this information in relation to those companies whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market and in which the proportion of voting rights exceeds 5 % of all voting rights issued by the company.

The first disclosure date will be 31 December 2021.

On 12 October 2021, the  European Commission issued the first NextGenerationEU green bond, thus raising €12 billion to be used exclusively for green and sustainable investments across the EU. 

This represents the world's largest green bond issuance ever. With NextGenerationEU green bonds, the EU is set to become the world's largest green bond issuer by far, providing a significant boost to sustainable finance markets as well as funding a greener EU recovery from the pandemic. With the strong oversubscription rate and excellent pricing conditions today's issuance represents a promising start to the NextGenerationEU green bond programme of up to €250 billion by end-2026.

On 22 October 2021, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published their Final Report with draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) regarding disclosures under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) as amended by the Regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (Taxonomy Regulation).

The Report contains the following proposals:

1. For products under Articles 5 and 6 of the Taxonomy Regulation

• inclusion of pre-contractual and periodic disclosures that identify the environmental objectives to which the product contributes and show how and to what extent the product’s investments are aligned with the EU Taxonomy
• for measuring how and to what extent activities funded by the product are aligned with the EU taxonomy, the proposals consist of two elements:
  - two graphs showing the taxonomy-alignment of investments of the financial product based on a specified methodology that calculates that alignment; and
  - an assurance provided by an auditor or a review by a third party that the economic activities funded by the product that qualify as environmentally sustainable are compliant with the detailed criteria of the Taxonomy Regulation.

2. For pre-contractual and periodic disclosures

• inclusion of annexes with amendments to the mandatory templates for financial products that promote environmental and/or social characteristics or have a sustainable investment objective as defined in the SFDR, so that they include additional disclosures for Article 5 and Article 6 products under the Taxonomy Regulation.

Regarding the specific issue of the treatment of sovereign bonds in the representation of the taxonomy-alignment of investments, the ESAs decided to require the disclosure of the taxonomy-alignment of investments in two ways: one including sovereign exposures and one excluding sovereign exposures from the calculation.

The EC will scrutinise the draft RTS and decide whether to endorse them within 3 months of their publication. The Commission has informed the European Parliament and Council that it intends to incorporate all the SFDR RTS, meaning both the original ones submitted to the Commission in February 2021 as well as the ones covered in this Final report, in one instrument.

On 6 October 2021, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) has declared its compliance with the European Banking Authority's guidance (EBA/GL/2021/02) repealing and replacing the guidance on money laundering and terrorist financing risk factors (JC/2017/37). The guidance is annexed to this notice. 

These guidelines are applicable from 7 October 2021, by all credit and financial institutions defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 and subject to supervision by the ACPR, which must make every effort to comply with them, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing the EBA.

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Le 6 octobre 2021, l'Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) s’est déclarée conforme aux orientations de l’Autorité bancaire européenne (EBA/GL/2021/02) abrogeant et remplaçant les orientations sur les facteurs de risque de blanchiment de capitaux et de financement du terrorisme (JC/2017/37). Les orientations sont annexées au présent avis.

Ces orientations sont applicables à compter du 7 octobre 2021, par l’ensemble des établissements de crédit et des établissements financiers définis aux paragraphes 1 et 2 de l’article 3 de la directive (UE) 2015/849 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 20 mai 2015 et soumis au contrôle de l’ACPR, qui doivent mettre tout en œuvre pour les respecter, conformément aux dispositions de l’article 16 du règlement (UE) n° 1093/2010 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 24 novembre 2010 instituant l’Autorité bancaire européenne.

On 29 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) encouraged listed companies to implement ESMA recommendations on the 2021 extra-financial reporting.

Each year, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) establishes common supervisory priorities at European level in terms of reporting and publishes recommendations for issuers with a view to preparing their annual financial report. In addition to accounting aspects, dealt with in a specific communication from the AMF, since 2018 these recommendations also relate to extra-financial reporting.

The European supervisors thus agreed this year on three major common European supervision priorities in terms of extra-financial reporting:

• The impacts of COVID-19, a subject already discussed in 2020 by ESMA recommendations and which remains important due to the persistence of the pandemic. ESMA thus evokes the necessary transparency of companies on the effects of the pandemic, in particular on the development of their activities, their action plans and the achievement of their sustainability objectives in this particular context;
• The challenges linked to climate change, also in the continuity of previous supervision priorities. These recommendations on climate-related issues (policies, identification and management of risks, indicators and objectives) also echo ESMA's recommendations relating to financial information, which this year address the issue of companies' transparency on commitments. climate and their effects in the financial statements and insist on the necessary consistency between these two aspects of corporate communication;
• The information to be provided in connection with Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation. ESMA wanted to make issuers aware of the main reporting requirements relating to the European Taxonomy applying from January 1, 2022. Anticipating these recommendations, the 'AMF also encouraged issuers to prepare when these obligations come into effect, which can be complex depending on the activities and organization of the companies.

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Le 29 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a encouragé les sociétés cotées à mettre en œuvre les recommandations de l'ESMA relatives au reporting extra-financier.

L’Autorité européenne des marchés financiers (ESMA) établit chaque année des priorités de supervision communes au niveau européen en matière de reporting et publie des recommandations à l’attention des émetteurs en vue de la préparation de leur rapport financier annuel. En plus des aspects comptables, traités dans une communication spécifique de l’AMF, ces recommandations portent depuis 2018 également sur le reporting extra-financier.

Les superviseurs européens se sont ainsi accordés cette année sur trois grandes priorités de supervision communes européennes en matière de reporting extra-financier :

• Les impacts relatifs à la COVID-19, sujet déjà abordé en 2020 par les recommandations de l’ESMA et qui demeure important en raison de la persistance de la pandémie. L’ESMA évoque ainsi la nécessaire transparence des entreprises sur les effets de la pandémie notamment sur le développement de leurs activités, leurs plans d’actions et l’atteinte de leurs objectifs de durabilité dans ce contexte particulier ;
• Les enjeux liés au changement climatique, également dans la continuité des précédentes priorités de supervision. Ces recommandations sur les enjeux liés au climat (politiques, identification et gestion des risques, indicateurs et objectifs) font par ailleurs échos aux recommandations de l’ESMA relatives aux informations financières, qui abordent cette année la question de la transparence des entreprises sur les engagements climatiques et leurs effets dans les états financiers et insistent sur la nécessaire cohérence entre ces deux volets de la communication des sociétés ;
• Les informations à fournir en lien avec l’Article 8 du Règlement Taxinomie. L’ESMA a voulu sensibiliser les émetteurs sur les principales exigences de reporting relatives à la Taxinomie européenne s’appliquant à compter du 1er janvier 2022. Anticipant ces recommandations, l’AMF avait par ailleurs encouragé les émetteurs à se préparer à l’entrée en application de ces obligations qui peuvent s’avérer complexes selon les activités et l’organisation des sociétés.

On 29 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published its recommendations and the results of its recent review of the financial statements.

As the 2021 financial statements approach, the regulator provides listed companies with its recommendations and a summary of its review of the annual financial statements carried out between October 2020 and September 2021. Established in line with European priorities of ESMA, these recommendations deal in particular with the treatment of the impact of the pandemic and the consideration of environmental risks.

Over the period October 2020 to September 2021, a little more than three quarters of the reviews led to the sending to companies of recommendations and points for improvement. The most frequent points of attention focused on impairment tests on non-financial assets (in particular the information provided on the operational assumptions used and the sensitivity analyzes) and information on credit risk (impairment of trade receivables, program factoring). Revenue recognition is also the subject of recommendations, often to clarify the link between the presentation of their activities and the principles of revenue recognition.

In addition, the AMF also illustrates this part of some specific practical cases encountered, for example the recognition of deferred taxes, the classification as cash equivalents, the accounting treatment of vacancies or even SPACs.

The AMF would like to point out that it remains at the disposal of companies and their auditors to discuss prior to the closing of accounts on structuring financial matters. Finally, the AMF underlines the obligation to apply the ESEF format to the 2021 annual financial reports.

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Le 29 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié ses recommandations et les résultats de ses récents travaux de revue des états financiers.

A l’approche de l’arrêté des comptes 2021, le régulateur met à la disposition des sociétés cotées ses recommandations et la synthèse de ses travaux de revue des états financiers annuels menés entre octobre 2020 et septembre 2021. Etablies en cohérence avec les priorités européennes de l’ESMA, ces recommandations abordent notamment le traitement de l’impact de la pandémie et de la prise en compte des risques environnementaux.

Sur la période octobre 2020 à septembre 2021, un peu plus des trois quarts des revues ont conduit à l’envoi aux sociétés de recommandations et points d’amélioration. Les points d’attention les plus fréquents ont porté sur les tests de dépréciation des actifs non financiers (notamment les informations fournies sur les hypothèses opérationnelles utilisées et les analyses de sensibilité) et les informations sur le risque de crédit (dépréciation des créances clients, programme d’affacturage). La reconnaissance du chiffre d’affaires fait également l’objet de recommandations, souvent afin de clarifier le lien entre la présentation de leurs activités et les principes de reconnaissance des revenus.

Par ailleurs, l’AMF illustre également cette partie de quelques cas pratiques spécifiques rencontrés, par exemple la reconnaissance des impôts différés, le classement en équivalents de trésorerie, le traitement comptable des libérations de surface ou encore des SPAC.

L’AMF rappelle qu’elle se tient à la disposition des sociétés et de leurs commissaires aux comptes pour échanger en amont de la clôture des comptes sur les sujets financiers structurants. Enfin, l’AMF souligne l’obligation d’application du format ESEF aux rapports financiers annuels 2021.

On 4 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and ECB signed a cooperation agreement on supervision.

The agreement, signed on 26 August 2021, will provide a framework for the exchange of information between the two institutions and thus complete the information available to each of them for the purpose of conducting their supervisory tasks in respect of the institutions placed under their joint supervision.

Under the terms of Article 3(1) of the European Regulation on the specific tasks entrusted to the ECB in relation to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (Regulation 1024/2013, known as the MSU Regulation), the ECB must sign cooperation agreements with the competent authorities of the Member States in charge of financial markets.

The signing of this agreement between the AMF and the ECB is in response to the desire of both authorities to benefit from mutual cooperation on matters of common interest in order to ensure adequate supervision of financial institutions covered by the MSU Regulation and the financial markets legislation resulting from the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

Under the terms of the agreement, the two institutions will use their best efforts to provide each other with the greatest possible assistance to facilitate the performance of the tasks assigned to them by these texts.

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Le 4 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) et la Banque Centrale Européenne (BCE) ont signé un accord de coopération en matière de supervision.

L'accord, signé le 26 août 2021, permettra d’encadrer les échanges d’information entre les deux institutions et de compléter ainsi les informations dont chacune dispose pour conduire ses missions de supervision des établissements placés sous leur supervision conjointe.

Aux termes de l’article 3(1) du règlement européen sur les missions spécifiques confiées à la BCE en lien avec la surveillance prudentielle des établissements de crédit (règlement 1024/2013 dit règlement MSU), la BCE doit signer des accords de coopération avec les autorités compétentes des Etats membres en charge des marchés financiers.

La signature de cet accord entre l’AMF et la BCE répond au souhait des deux autorités de bénéficier d’une coopération mutuelle sur des sujets d’intérêt commun afin d’assurer une supervision adéquate des institutions financières couvertes par le règlement MSU et la législation sur les marchés financiers issue de la directive sur les Marchés d’instruments financiers (MIF).

Aux termes de cet accord, les deux institutions feront leurs meilleurs efforts pour s’offrir réciproquement la plus grande assistance possible pour faciliter la réalisation des tâches que leur confient ces textes.

On 1 October 2021, the Association Française des Titres (AFTI) published a Technical guide on the application of anti-dilution methods by fund administrators.

Following the strategic projects launched as part of the assessment of the COVID 19 crisis, AFTI - Fund administration wanted to update its "Technical guide on the application of anti-dilutive methods among fund administrators".

This technical guide aims to explain the anti-dilution methods and compare their operational consequences for all the players in the post-trade chain. It shows that in addition to an easier implementation of swing pricing - compared to adjustable entry and exit fees, there are also other methods that are operationally simpler.

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Le 1 octobre 2021, l'Association Française des Titres (AFTI) a publié un Guide technique relatif à l’application de méthodes anti-dilutives chez les administrateurs de fonds.

A la suite des chantiers stratégiques lancés dans le cadre du bilan de la crise COVID 19, l’AFTI – Administration de fonds a souhaité mettre à jour son « Guide technique relatif à l’application des méthodes anti-dilutives chez les administrateurs de fonds ».

Ce guide technique a vocation à expliciter les méthodes anti-dilutives et à comparer leurs conséquences opérationnelles pour l’ensemble des acteurs de la chaine du post-marché. Il met en évidence, qu’outre une mise en œuvre plus aisée du swing pricing – par rapport aux droits d’entrée et sortie ajustables, il existe également d’autres méthodes, plus simples opérationnellement.

On 4 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) declared to ESMA its compliance with its guidelines on marketing communications under the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds, published on the 2nd august 2021 (ESMA34-45-1272).

These guidelines, which will apply on 2 February 2022, aim to specify the application of the requirements for marketing communications set out in Article 4(1) of the Regulation (EU) 2019/1156 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 by establishing common principles on the following matters, while taking into account on-line aspects of such marketing communications :

• The identification as such of marketing communications ;
• The description of risks and rewards in an equally prominent manner ; and
• The fair, clear and not misleading character of marketing communications (General requirements, Information on risks and rewards as well as costs, past performance and expected future performance and information on sustainability-related aspects).

These guidelines have an impact on the existing AMF’s policy, in particular on the AMF Position –recommendation DOC-2011-24 - A guide to drafting collective investment marketing materials and distributing collective investments, which will be updated shortly.

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Le 4 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a déclaré à l’ESMA se conformer aux orientations relatives aux communications publicitaires au titre du règlement  sur la distribution transfrontalière des organismes de placement collectif, publiées par l’ESMA le 2 août 2021 (ESMA34-45-1272).

Ces orientations, qui seront applicables à compter du 2 février 2022, ont pour objectif de préciser l’application des exigences édictées par l’article 4, paragraphe 1, du Règlement (UE) No 2019/1156 du Parlement Européen et du Conseil du 20 juin 2019  en établissant des principes communs sur les points suivants, tout en tenant compte des aspects liés au format électronique des communications publicitaires :

• L’identification des communications publicitaires en tant que telles ;
• La description des risques et des avantages liés à l’achat de parts ou d’actions d’un FIA ou d’un OPCVM de manière identique ; et
• Le caractère correct, clair et non trompeur des communications publicitaires (exigences générales, informations sur les risques et les avantages ainsi que sur les coûts, les performances passées et anticipées et les aspects liés à la durabilité).

Ces orientations impactent la doctrine existante de l’AMF, en particulier la position-recommandation DOC-2011-24 – Guide pour la rédaction des documents commerciaux et la commercialisation des placements collectifs, qui sera prochainement actualisée.

On 15 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published an International Overview of Responsible Investment Communications Practices - September 2021.

The AMF has reviewed the main responsible investment (RI) offerings proposed to private individuals in various European and third countries, as well as the communications practices of banks regarding these investments. The results show that the websites of the major banks do not give much prominence to responsible financial products for retail clients.

The overview shows a wide variety of approaches: some markets, particularly in the European Economic Area, are targeting more at retail investors, while in other countries the offering aims above all at institutional investors. Some websites do not mention responsible investment, or do so only in the institutional presentation page of the company, or in the private banking section. Others communicate more widely on the subject but do not go into detail about their fund offerings.

Other institutions stand out for their educational communication initiatives, making available different content, videos, podcasts, etc., to explain the main concepts of responsible finance, detailed descriptions of company evaluation methods and tools to select funds based on specific criteria.

Providing investors with clear information on responsible and sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria is essential to improve confidence in this type of investment. Under the new MiFID2 rules, as of August 2022, financial advisors will be required to obtain their clients' ESG preferences before offering them an investment product.

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Le 15 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié un panorama international des pratiques de communication autour des investissements responsables - Septembre 2021.

L’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a passé en revue les principales offres d’investissement responsable (IR) proposées aux particuliers dans différents pays, en Europe et au-delà, ainsi que les pratiques de communication des établissements bancaires concernant ces placements. Il en ressort une assez faible mise en avant des produits financiers responsables auprès de la clientèle de détail sur les sites des grandes banques.

Ce panorama montre une grande variété d’approches : certains marchés, notamment au sein de l’Espace économique européen, sont davantage orientés vers les investisseurs particuliers, alors que dans d’autres pays, l’offre est surtout destinée aux institutionnels. Certains sites ne mentionnent pas l’investissement responsable, ou bien uniquement dans leur page de présentation institutionnelle de l’entreprise, ou dans l’espace banque privée. D’autres communiquent plus largement sur le sujet sans détailler leur offre de fonds.

D’autres établissements se distinguent par des initiatives de communication pédagogiques, mettant à disposition différents contenus, vidéos, podcasts, etc., pour comprendre les grands concepts de la finance responsable, des explications détaillées sur les méthodes d’évaluation des entreprises et des outils pour trier les fonds en fonction de certains critères.

Une bonne information des épargnants en matière de finance responsable et durable, de critères environnementaux, sociaux ou de gouvernance (ESG) est essentielle pour améliorer la confiance dans ce type de placements. En effet, les nouvelles règles de la directive MIF2 imposeront aux conseillers financiers de recueillir les préférences ESG de leurs clients avant de leur proposer un produit d’investissement à partir d’août 2022.

On 27 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published the summary of SPOT inspections loans granting by asset management companies.  The AMF has examined the organisation and lending practices of six asset managers. In its summary document, it identifies possible areas of improvement.

Since November 2016, management companies can grant loans through certain types of alternative investment funds (AIFs). To do so, they must have a specific programme of activity approved by the AMF that covers this loan granting activity. With 43 companies already authorised to carry out this activity, the regulator wanted to examine existing practices in order to support the players and secure the development of lending in the asset management industry.

Based on a series of short thematic (SPOT) inspections involving five asset management companies (AMCs) and a standard inspection of a sixth, the AMF focused its attention on the following points:

• organisation of the asset management companies with respect to granting loans,
• procedures related to this activity,
• loan structuring arrangements,
• financial management of the AIFs concerned,
• control systems.

Since the asset management industry has only started to grant loans recently, the inspections performed covered a short period of time having regard to the duration of the loans granted. It is therefore likely that the reliability of the processes in place has not yet been fully tested. It is the responsibility of asset management companies to ensure that they reassess their systems on a continuous basis and adjust them as necessary. 

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Le 27 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié la synthèse des contrôles SPOT sur l'octroi de prêts.

Depuis novembre 2016, les sociétés de gestion ont la possibilité, via certains types de fonds d’investissement alternatifs (FIA), d’octroyer des prêts. Elles doivent pour cela disposer d’un programme d’activité spécifique ayant fait l’objet d’un agrément par l’AMF et couvrant l’activité d’octroi de prêts. Alors que 43 sociétés ont d’ores et déjà été habilitées à exercer cette activité, le régulateur a souhaité examiner les pratiques existantes, pour accompagner les acteurs et sécuriser le développement de l’octroi de prêts dans l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs.

A l’occasion d’une série de contrôles thématiques courts (SPOT) qui a concerné 5 sociétés de gestion, et d’un contrôle classique réalisé auprès d’un 6ème acteur, l’AMF a porté son attention sur :

• l’organisation des sociétés de gestion en matière d’octroi de prêts,
• les procédures en lien avec cette activité,
• les modalités de structuration des prêts,
• la gestion financière des FIA concernés,
• le dispositif de contrôle.

Compte tenu de l’introduction récente de l’activité d’octroi de prêts dans l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs, les contrôles réalisés ont porté sur une période courte au regard de la durée de vie des prêts octroyés et sur laquelle la fiabilité des processus en place n’a sans doute pas encore été pleinement éprouvée. Il appartient aux SGP de veiller de manière continue à réévaluer leurs dispositifs et à les ajuster dès que cela sera nécessaire. 

On 15 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published a Decision of 28 September 2021 on the amendment of the rules of the Sigma X Europe multilateral trading facility (MTF).

The amendments to the operating rules of the Sigma X Europe GMS as annexed to this decision are hereby approved. They will enter into force on the date determined by Goldman Sachs Paris Inc. and Co.

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Le 15 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié la Décision du 28 septembre 2021 concernant la modification des règles du système multilatéral de négociation (SMN) Sigma X Europe.

Sont approuvées les modifications des règles de fonctionnement du SMN Sigma X Europe telles qu’annexées à la présente décision. Elles entreront en vigueur à la date déterminée par Goldman Sachs Paris Inc. et Cie.

On 18 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced it will apply ESMA Guidelines on the MiFID II/MiFIR obligations on market data (ESMA70-156-4263).

Published by ESMA on 18 August 2021, these Guidelines on market data will apply from 1 January 2022. The guidelines concern market data that trading venues, systematic internalisers, approved publication arrangements and consolidated tape providers have to make public on a reasonable commercial basis or on a free basis following pre- and post-trade transparency regime under MiFIR (articles 13, 15(1) abd 18(8)) and MiFID (articles 64(1), 64(2), 65(1) and 65(2)).

The guidelines provide clarifications on market data policies, access and their provision.

The guidelines’ aim, among others, is to ensure that financial market participants have a uniform understanding of the requirement to provide market data on a reasonable commercial basis, including the disclosure requirements, as well as the requirement to provide the market data 15 minutes after publication free of charge.

The nineteen ESMA guidelines provide clarifications notably on the following elements:

• the market data policies, that should be clear and easily accessible;
• the provision of market data on the basis of cost;
• the obligation to provide market data on a non-discriminatory basis;
• the per-user fees;
• the obligation to keep data unbundled;
• the transparency obligations on policies;
• the obligation to make market data available free of charge 15 minutes after publication.

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Le 18 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a annoncé qu'elle appliquera les orientations de l’ESMA relatives aux obligations en matière de données de marché dans le cadre des textes européens sur les marchés d’instruments financiers MiFID II/MiFIR (ESMA70-156-4263 FR).

Publiées par l’ESMA le 18 août 2021, les orientations sur les données de marché seront applicables à partir du 1er janvier 2022. Elles concernent les données de marché que les plates-formes de négociation, les internalisateurs systématiques, les dispositifs de publication agréés et les Consolidated Tape Providers doivent rendre publiques sur une base commerciale raisonnable ou gratuitement en vertu du régime de transparence pré et post-négociation du règlement européen MiFIR (articles 13, 15.1 et 18.8) et de la Directive MiFID (articles 64.1, 64.2, 65.1 et 65.2).

Ces orientations apportent des précisions relatives aux politiques encadrant ces données, à l'accès à celles-ci ainsi qu’à leur mise à disposition.  

Elles visent, entre autres, à ce que les acteurs de marché appréhendent de manière uniforme l’exigence de fournir des données de marché à des conditions commerciales raisonnables, y compris les obligations d’information, ainsi que l’exigence de fournir les données de marché gratuitement 15 minutes après publication.

Les dix-neuf orientations de l’ESMA apportent des précisions notamment sur les points suivants :

• les politiques en matière de données de marché, qui doivent être claires et facilement accessibles ;
• la fourniture de données de marché sur la base des coûts ;
• l’obligation de fournir les données de marché sur une base non discriminatoire ;
• les frais par utilisateur ;
• l’obligation de dégroupage des données ;
• les obligations de transparence des politiques tarifaires ;
• l’obligation de mettre gratuitement à disposition les données de marché 15 minutes après leur publication.

On 19 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published a summary of the findings of a series of SPOT inspections on the governance of financial instruments.

During its short thematic inspections, the AMF examined the way in which some institutions implemented the provisions of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID2) with regard to the distribution of financial instruments to retail investors. 

1) The governance system of financial instruments

The summary shows a structured distribution of the responsibilities of the business lines involved in the product governance system. The prerogatives of the committees set up are clear and well documented. Nevertheless, the non-participation of representatives of the audited companies in group committees is a poor practice because it reduces the buy-in of the system by subsidiaries and thus the effectiveness of the system. Although the procedures are clearly defined, due diligence procedures are not always very operational. Good practices observed included annual validation and certification of compliance with group procedures and annual reporting of any discrepancies and remediation plans.

2) Definition and monitoring of the target market

The parent company is almost exclusively responsible for defining and reviewing the target market for group financial instruments distributed by the inspected companies, and this is not necessarily in line with regulatory requirements. Only one of the five institutions inspected had defined a target market for each financial instrument, while the others had definition rates ranging from 80 to 90%. Among the poor practices observed, the AMF highlights the failure to include the risk rating of certain instruments when formalising the target market and the failure to take account of client complaints when monitoring the target market.

3) Definition and monitoring of the distribution strategy

It is good practice to define the distribution strategy in terms of the investment service involved, the distribution channel concerned and the categories of authorised advisers. However, adopting the distribution strategy proposed by the parent company without critically examining it is not in line with the regulations.

4) Non-target market sales

The AMF identified shortcomings in the implementation of "negative" target markets for all the companies. It is good practice to systematically send a warning message if a negative target market criteria is met for a transaction that has been recommended.

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Le 19 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié la synthèse des enseignements d’une série de contrôles SPOT sur la gouvernance des instruments financiers.

A l’occasion de ses contrôles thématiques courts, l’Autorité des marchés financiers a examiné la manière dont certains établissements ont mis en œuvre les dispositions de la directive sur les marchés d’instruments financiers (MIF2) en matière de distribution d’instruments financiers auprès des particuliers.

1) Le dispositif de gouvernance des instruments financiers

La synthèse fait état d’une répartition structurée des responsabilités des métiers impliqués dans le dispositif de gouvernance produits. Les prérogatives des comités mis en place sont claires et correctement documentées. Toutefois, l’absence de participation des représentants des établissements contrôlés dans les comités groupes, dans la mesure où elle est de nature à affaiblir l’appropriation du dispositif par les filiales et donc l’efficacité du dispositif, constitue une mauvaise pratique. Si les procédures sont clairement définies, les modalités d’exercice des diligences ne sont pas toujours très opérationnelles. Valider et attester chaque année de se conformer aux procédures groupe et établir un rapport annuel faisant état des éventuelles anomalies et de plans de remédiation font partie des bonnes pratiques observées.

2) La définition et le suivi du marché cible

La définition du marché cible des instruments financiers groupe distribués par les établissements contrôlés et son réexamen incombent quasi-exclusivement à l’entreprise mère, ce qui ne permet pas nécessairement de satisfaire aux exigences de la réglementation. Un seul des cinq établissements contrôlés a défini un marché cible pour chaque instrument financier, les autres se situant à des taux de définition variant de 80 à 90%. Parmi les mauvaises pratiques observées, l’AMF souligne la non reprise de la note de risque de certains instruments dans la formalisation du marché cible et la non prise en compte des réclamations des clients dans le suivi du marché cible.

3) La définition et le suivi de la stratégie de distribution

Définir la stratégie de distribution en y intégrant à la fois le service d’investissement impliqué, le canal de distribution concerné et les catégories de conseillers habilités, constitue une bonne pratique. En revanche, reprendre la stratégie de distribution proposée par la maison mère sans l’examiner d’un œil critique n’est pas conforme à la réglementation.

4) Les ventes en dehors du marché cible

Il a été relevé des insuffisances dans les mises en œuvre des marchés cible « négatifs » de tous les établissements. Une bonne pratique consiste, pour une transaction qui a fait l’objet d’une recommandation, à envoyer systématiquement un message d’avertissement si un critère du marché cible négatif est satisfait. 

On 13 October 2021, the Système unifié de rapport financier (e-surfi) updated the DPM 3.1 on functional business cards.

This version of the taxonomy integrates in particular the evolutions linked to the IFR/IFD regulation.

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Le 13 octobre 2021, le Système unifié de rapport financier (e-surfi) a actualisé le DPM 3.1 sur les cartes de visite fonctionnelles.

Cette version de taxonomie intègre notamment les évolutions liées à la règlementation IFR/IFD.

On 6 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published an overview of ESG communication practices abroad.

This overview is a non-exhaustive review of responsible investment offers to retail investors in different European and third countries, as well as the communication practices of banking institutions regarding these investments.

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Le 6 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a dressé un panorama des pratiques de communication à l'étranger des investissements responsables.

Ce panorama constitue une revue non exhaustive des offres d’investissement responsable proposées aux particuliers de différents pays européens et de pays tiers, ainsi que des pratiques de communication des établissements bancaires concernant ces placements.

On 14 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published conclusions of the Climate and Sustainable Finance Commission on the carbon neutrality of companies.

In a context where a growing number of companies in various sectors are making commitments to carbon neutrality, the report sheds light on the  approaches of companies, the actions that result from them, and the way to report on the efforts undertaken. The objective is to accompany companies in the development and implementation of their climate strategy, in particular by identifying good practices.

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Le 14 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a publié les conclusions de la Commission Climat et finance durable sur la neutralité carbone des entreprises.

Le rapport de la CCFD de l’AMF apporte un éclairage structurant sur les démarches de neutralité carbone des entreprises, les actions qui en découlent, et la manière de restituer les efforts entrepris. L’objectif est d’accompagner les entreprises dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre de leur stratégie climat, notamment en identifiant des bonnes pratiques.

On 14 October 2021, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) named the first certified training organisations in sustainable finance.

Acting on a proposal by the Financial Skills Certification Board (HCCP), the AMF has decided to certify four training organisations to organise the new module for verifying the knowledge of professionals in sustainable finance. 

One of the main focuses of the AMF's #Supervision2022 strategic plan is providing support to market participants towards more sustainable finance. Last February, the regulator announced that the section of the general examination for AMF certification devoted to sustainable finance would be extended and that a specific, optional module on sustainable finance would be created. At its meeting on 28 Septembre 2021, the AMF Board examined the applications of the firts training organisations seeking to organise the optional Sustainable Finance module of the AMF professional certification. 

Pursuant to Articles 321-5, 318-9, 321-39 and 325-36 of the AMF General Regulation, the AMF Board decided to grant certification to four training organisations:

• AFG Formation
• BÄRCHEN Education
• FIRST FINANCE
• JURISCAMPUS.

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Le 14 octobre 2021, l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a annoncé les premiers organismes de formation certifiés en finance durable.

L’Autorité des marchés financiers a décidé, sur proposition du Haut conseil certificateur de Place (HCCP), d’octroyer une certification à quatre organismes de formation pour l’organisation du nouveau module de vérification des connaissances des professionnels en finance durable.

L’accompagnement des acteurs de la Place vers une finance plus durable constitue l’un des axes majeurs du plan stratégique #Supervision2022 de l’Autorité des marchés financiers. Le régulateur a annoncé en février dernier le renforcement de la partie consacrée à cette thématique dans l’examen généraliste de la certification AMF et la création d’un module spécifique, optionnel, sur la finance durable. Lors de sa séance du 28 septembre 2021, le Collège de l’AMF a étudié les dossiers de premiers organismes de formation candidats à l’organisation de ce module optionnel Finance durable de la certification professionnelle AMF. 

En application des dispositions des articles 312-5, 318-9, 321-39 et 325-36 du règlement général de l’AMF, le Collège de l’AMF a décidé, d’octroyer cette certification à quatre organismes de formation :

• AFG Formation
• BÄRCHEN Education
• FIRST FINANCE
• JURISCAMPUS.

On 19 October 2021, the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium proposed a Draft law amending the law of 25 April 2014 on the status and supervision of credit institutions and stock exchange companies in order to ensure the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2162 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the issuance of covered bonds and the public oversight of covered bonds , and also amending the law of 11 March 2018 on the status and supervision of payment institutions and electronic money institutions, access to the activity of payment service provider, and to the activity of issuing electronic money, and access to payment systems.

This bill ensures the partial transposition into Belgian law of Directive (EU) 2019/2162 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the issuance of covered bonds and the public oversight of covered bonds and amending Directives 2009/65/EC and 2014/59/EU (the Covered Bond Directive). 

To this end, this bill makes a number of amendments to the law of 25 April 2014 on the status and supervision of credit institutions and securities firms. 

In addition, the opportunity is taken to make a number of technical and legalistic corrections to the aforementioned law in order to clarify the supervisory regime of covered bonds by the competent authorities and the readability of the applicable rules. Some technical corrections are also made to the law of 11 March 2018 on the status and supervision of payment and electronic money institutions, access to the activity of payment service provider, and to the activity of issuing electronic money, and access to payment systems.

On 5 October 2021, the Banque nationale de Belgique (BnB) published a Circular NBB_2021_20 on the methods of application of article 36bis of the royal decree of 23 September 1992 relating to the annual accounts of credit institutions, investment firms and management companies of collective investment undertakings.

This circular defines the practical arrangements for the application of Article 36bis of the Royal Decree of 23 September 1992 as amended by the Royal Decree of 29 August 2021.

In particular, it defines the conditions and formalities to be fulfilled in order to obtain the Bank's authorisation and the transitional provisions applicable to institutions with a derogation from Article 36a (on the date of publication of the Royal Decree of 29/08/2021). The circular also provides details on the consequences of non-compliance with the conditions on the date of closure of the annual accounts; describes the Bank's recommendations with regard to the information to be published in the appendix to schedule B, as well as the expectations of the approved auditors when submitting an application file and also when carrying out their half-yearly audits. 

These clarifications apply from the date of publication of this circular.

On 26 October 2021, the BaFin publishes an informative paper on the reporting procedure for outsourcing.

The law on strengthening financial market integrity (Financial Market Integrity Strengthening Act - FISG) of 3 June 2021 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1534) reformed the rules for reporting outsourcing.

From 1 January 2022, the obligation to notify includes, among other things, notification in accordance with the existing legal regulations in the Capital Investment Code and the new legal regulation as a result of the FISG in the context of existing or intended outsourcing.

The current informative paper describes how to proceed to the notification and apply for activation for the outsourcing notification procedure.

On 6 October 2021, the BaFin published FAQs on the new rules for securities prospectuses under the EU Prospectus Regulation 2017/1129.

• Grandfathering provision in Article 46(3) of the EU Prospectus Regulation
• Continuation of offers to the public after a base prospectus has expired
• Supplement requirement under the EU Prospectus Regulation
• New legal concepts in the EU Prospectus Regulation
• Risk factors under Article 16 of the EU Prospectus Regulation
• What has changed with regard to the summary under Article 7 of the EU Prospectus Regulation?
• How much more flexible are the rules for the language of the prospectus?
• What are the requirements for submitting a draft prospectus to BaFin as of 21 July 2019?
• What documents need to be included with an application for the approval of a draft prospectus or for filing a universal registration document with BaFin?
• What are the requirements for submitting the final draft prospectus to BaFin as of 21 July 2019? What supporting documents are necessary for the approval of the final draft prospectus?
• Is it possible as of 21 July 2019 for prospectuses to be approved before all the relevant metadata are available?
• Is it possible as of 21 July 2019 for final terms to be filed even if the relevant metadata are not available?
• What documents are required in order to register for the MVP specialised procedure for electronically filing prospectuses, supplements, final terms, (universal) registration documents and securities information sheets plus updates?
• What are the fees charged in connection with the German Securities Prospectus Act (Wertpapierprospektgesetz – WpPG) and the EU Prospectus Regulation?
• Can the exemptions from the prospectus requirement set out in section 3 no. 1 and no. 2 of the German Securities Prospectus Act (Wertpapierprospektgesetz – WpPG) be combined in such a way that, within 12 months, it is possible to offer securities to the public in the EEA for a total consideration of up to EUR 16 million without a prospectus?

On 22 October 2021, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) updated Frequently Asked Questions in relation to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism.

These FAQs aim to assist Authorized Institutions (AIs) regulated by the HKMA in understanding relevant AML/CFT requirements. AIs are expected to be fully conversant with these FAQs, and to have regard to them in meeting their AML/CFT legal and regulatory obligations. These FAQs are, however, by their nature framed as general statements and do not take into account the particular circumstances of an AI. AIs should therefore consider the money laundering and terrorist financing risks to which they are exposed and their own circumstances (among others) before taking action on matters to which these FAQs may be relevant. These FAQs should not be regarded as a substitute for obtaining legal or other professional advice on AML/CFT requirements.

On 11 October 2021, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published Circular to intermediaries, concerning the distribution of insurance-linked securities and related products.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) remind intermediaries to observe the requirements governing selling practices, including the suitability obligations and requirements for complex products, under the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the Securities and Futures Commission (Code of Conduct) when they distribute insurance-linked securities (ILS) and related products. This circular has been prepared in consultation with the Insurance Authority (IA).

Intermediaries are reminded to appropriately identify the target investors of ILS and related products by taking into account any selling restrictions on ILS issued in Hong Kong and outside Hong Kong as well as the structure and risks of these products.

Intermediaries are reminded to comply with the suitability obligations and requirements for complex products where applicable when distributing ILS and related products. Amongst other things, intermediaries should: 

(a) conduct product due diligence, taking into account, amongst other factors, the products’ nature, features, risks, any restrictions on their sale and target investors, and in what aspects they are considered suitable for clients;

(b)  ensure that the risk return profile of the product matches the financial situation, investment objectives, investment experience, risk tolerance and other relevant circumstances specific to the client;

(c)   provide clients with sufficient and accurate information about the product, including its nature, features and risks;

(d)  provide clients with warning statements in a clear and prominent manner; and

(e)  provide staff with adequate training on the products they distribute and how to appropriately disclose the products’ nature, features and risks to clients.

On 4 October 2021, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a report which sets out regulatory standards to promote the operational resilience of intermediaries. The report also discusses measures to manage the major possible risks of remote working arrangements, including working from home.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, licensed corporations faced significant disruptions which tested the reliability of their information systems, internal controls, facilities for providing client services and management of third-party service providers. A high degree of resilience helped them maintain business as usual. Remote working, particularly working from home, has become part of many licensed corporations’ business continuity strategies.

The report shares examples and lessons learned drawn from the SFC’s review of some licensed corporations’ operational resilience measures during the pandemic and other disruptive events.

On 28 October 2021, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) publishes Circular to licensed corporations - Reminder of business continuity planning in view of COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

SFC reminds licensed corporations of the circular issued on 1 June 2021, which strongly encouraged licensed corporations to consider vaccination as a critical part of operational risk management to ensure that their business operations and client interests are not unduly affected by COVID-19. 

In that circular, the SFC urged licensed corporations to review their business continuity plan1 (BCP) and encourage staff performing critical functions to get vaccinated. The SFC also urged licensed corporations to consider suitable arrangements for unvaccinated critical staff to undergo periodic COVID-19 testing. 

In view of the HKSAR Government’s vaccination-in-lieu of regular testing arrangement to require all civil servants to get vaccinated, licensed corporations are urged to adopt a similar arrangement and strongly encourage all of their staff who are medically fit to do so to get vaccinated by 30 November 2021 or to undergo effective testing for COVID-19 every two weeks.

On 8 October 2021, the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 was published in the Government Gazette of Hong Kong.

This Ordinance aims to:

• amend the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to amend and create offences for disclosing personal data without consent; 
• confer on the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data investigative and enforcement powers for those offences and related matters, including powers to require provision of materials and assistance, to enter and search premises, to access and search electronic devices, to stop, search and arrest persons, to serve cessation notices and to apply for injunctions; 
• enable the Commissioner to prosecute certain offences in the Commissioner’s name.

On 7 October 2021, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released the findings of the first joint survey, with the HKMA, on the Sale of Non-exchange Traded Investment Products by licensed corporations (LCs) and registered institutions (RIs).

A total of 308 LCs and 64 RIs reported selling investment products with an aggregate transaction amount of $5,700 billion during 2020, with the participation of over 700,000 investors.

Structured products ($2,764 billion) accounted for the largest share of the aggregate transaction amount, followed by collective investment schemes (CIS) ($1,425 billion) and debt securities ($1,058 billion). Major observations from the survey included:

• The most common structured products sold were equity-linked products ($1,597 billion), especially those linked to stocks of internet and technology companies which facilitated non-face-to-face interactions and online transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The use of online platforms was increasingly popular in the distribution of CIS, including money market funds. About 54% of clients investing in CIS transacted through online platforms and online sale of CIS accounted for 18% of the transaction amount for all CIS sold.
• 70% of the debt securities sold were corporate bonds. Firms generally responded that their clients showed interest in bonds offering higher yields in the current low interest rate environment.

The SFC and the HKMA conducted the survey to better understand the industry landscape and market trends. This information helps the SFC and HKMA supervise the selling practices of intermediaries and coordinate their responses to address areas of common concern. The regulators believe that the information would also be useful to market participants.

On 8 October 2021, the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 was published in the Government Gazette of Hong Kong.

This Ordinance aims to amend the Securities and Futures Ordinance and subsidiary legislation made under that Ordinance to introduce a mechanism for the re-domiciliation of fund corporations incorporated outside Hong Kong so as to become open-ended fund companies under that Ordinance.

On 8 October 2021, the Limited Partnership Fund and Business Registration Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 was published in Government Gazette of Hong Kong.

This Ordinance aims to:

• amend the Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance to introduce a mechanism for the re-domiciliation of funds set up outside Hong Kong in the form of limited partnerships so as to become limited partnership funds under that Ordinance; 
• amend the Business Registration Ordinance and the Business Registration Regulations to provide for simultaneous business registration applications on registration of limited partnership funds.

On 11 October 2021, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a Circular to Licensed Corporations concerning its proposed updates to the Technical Specifications for OTC Derivatives Trade Reporting from 8 June 2021.

The SFC and the HKMA (Regulators) have received feedback and questions from 10 market participants, including reporting entities, central counterparties and a reporting agency. The Regulators thank market participants for their valuable responses and have adjusted some of the proposals to address their concerns. These are set out in more details in the attached List of Proposed Updates. In summary:

• The Regulators acknowledge such needs and will postpone the implementation of the data field “Special Terms” to December 2022 (the exact date will be communicated with market participants via the SRI and AIDG). An alternative solution (as set out in the attached List of Proposed Updates) will also be provided for those reporting entities who may have difficulties implementing this data field.
• The Regulators agree that harmonisation and alignment in data fields and in implementation with other major jurisdictions and with the CDE Technical Guidance are important. As such, for all of the proposed data fields for the Equity templates which are currently not required by the reporting regimes in other major jurisdictions, we will not mandate them at this stage but will monitor global development on this front and will re-consider introducing them again should they be implemented by other major jurisdictions. Separately, for those proposed data fields which are included in the CDE Technical Guidance and are expected to form part of the CDE harmonisation exercise, we will align their implementation with the CDE harmonisation exercise to be subsequently rolled out in Hong Kong. Please refer to the attached List of Proposed Updates for specific details.
• The Regulators will continue to actively engage market participants to clarify issues and answer questions that they may have during the implementation period.

On 1 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland published the AIFMD Q&A 42nd Edition of the Central Bank AIFMD Q&A.

The new Q&A ID 1148 relates to the implementation of paragraph 47 of the ESMA Guidelines on marketing communications under the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds (the “ESMA Marketing Guidelines”).

The new Q&A IDs 1149 and 1150 relate to investment by Qualifying Investor AIFs and Retail Investor AIFs in UK investment funds.

On 1 October 2021, the S.I. No. 496 of 2021 - European Union (Restrictive Measures concerning Iraq) (No. 5) Regulations 2021 was published in the Irish Statute Book.

These Regulations provide for the enforcement of restrictive measures contained in Council Regulation (EU) No. 1210/2003 of 7 July 2003, as amended, regarding restrictive measures concerning Iraq.

On 1 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland updated its Q&A on the payment of distributions and variable remuneration by investment firms and market operators with a new question: 

Dividends and remuneration

Can (re)insurance firms continue to make distributions or create obligations to pay variable remuneration in the current circumstances?

In light of the improved macro-economic outlook and the reduced uncertainty about the impact of Covid-19 on the European financial sector, the ESRB has decided to allow its Recommendation of 15 December 2020 on dividend distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic (ESRB/2020/15) to expire after 30 September 2021. In this context, the Central Bank has also decided to modify its expectation of (re)insurance firms with respect to distributions and variable remuneration with effect from 1 October 2021.

The Central Bank continues to expect all (re)insurance firms and their Boards to exercise prudence in respect of dividend distributions, share buy-backs or other similar transactions, and variable remuneration, and to carefully assess the impact of such proposed distributions on the financial resilience of the firm and in particular, its solvency and liquidity positions on a forward looking basis.

(Re)insurance firms are expected to continue to notify their supervisors in advance of any proposed dividend distributions, share buy-backs or other similar transactions. In notifying the Central Bank, firms are expected to include information on the amount and timing of the proposed distribution. The Central Bank will adopt a risk-based approach in determining if further information is needed from the firm. Where no communication is received from the Central Bank within 30 days of the notification, the firm is free to proceed with the dividend distribution.

The additional expectations that applied in respect of more significant insurance firms, no longer apply.  Notification in respect of proposed variable remuneration payments is no longer expected.

The Central Bank will continue to keep this position under review and may update it further at a later date.

On 29 October 2021, the  S.I. No. 561 of 2021 - European Union (General Framework for Securitisation and Specific Framework for Simple, Transparent and Standardised Securitisation) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 was published in the Irish Statute Book.

This instrument implements Regulation (EU) 2021/557 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2021 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 laying down a general framework for securitisation and creating a specific framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation to help the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

On 11 October 2021, the Ireland - Office of the Revenue Commissioners informed that the Tax and Duty Manual Part 33-03-04 - Filing Guidelines for DAC6 (EU Mandatory Disclosure of Reportable Cross-Border Arrangements) - has been amended at Sections 3.2 and 4.2 to include updated screenshots and guidance in line with the new schema.

On 6 October 2021, the Houses of the Oireachtas (Ireland's national parliament) initiated the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021.

This Bill applies to:

(a) Private Companies Limited by Shares as defined under Part 2 of the Act of 2014, 

(b) Designated Activity Companies as defined under Part 16 of the Act of 2014, 

(c) Public Limited Companies as defined under Part 17 of the Act of 2014, 

(d) Companies Limited by Guarantee as defined under Part 18 of the Act of 2014, 

(e) Unlimited Companies as defined under Part 19 of the Act of 2014, 

(f) all companies having charitable status, 

(g) all collective asset-management vehicles, 

(h) all Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS), and 

(i) all state-sponsored bodies of Ireland and their prominent subsidiaries, including all statutory corporations;

The Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021 is an Act to make provision for the regulation of gender balance on the boards and governing councils of corporate bodies and related matters. 

• The Bill provides for gender quotas at a boardroom level. 
• It will compel companies as set out in the Companies Act 2014 to make an annual report to the CRO on gender balance in their boardroom. 
• It will require all companies to have 33 per cent of each gender within a year of commencing this legislation, and 40 per cent within 3 years. 
• The quota would be mandatory but built on the ‘comply and explain’ model whereby companies who do not meet the quotas have the opportunity to explain why they could not meet them before any action is taken to compel compliance. 
• All companies who comply may apply for a certificate of compliance from the CRO to help them attract and retain talent and to showcase the companies who lead on the issue of gender balance. 
• The law will include a statutory right that would allow any interested party to apply to the High Court for an order to compel compliance where their explanation for non-compliance is deficient.

On 1 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland published the 34th edition of the Central Bank UCITS Q&A, which includes new Q&As related to the implementation of the ESMA Guidelines on marketing communications under the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds (the “ESMA Marketing Guidelines”).

The new Q&As, ID 1102 and ID 1103, relate to the implementation of paragraph 8 and 47 respectively of the ESMA Marketing Guidelines.

On 19 October 2021, the Irish Funds Industry Association (IF) published its Investment Limited Partnership Brochure, which highlights some of the key features of the ILP and the Central Bank of Ireland authorisation process for Asian asset managers.

Irish Funds Investment Limited Partnership Brochure: 19 October 2021

Following the recent overhaul of the Investment Limited Partnerships Act, 1994 (the “ILP Act”) and amendments made to the Central Bank of Ireland’s AIF Rulebook, the Irish investment limited partnership (the “ILP”) is expected to become the fund structure of choice for many Asian investment managers, particularly those in the private equity, private debt, private credit, infrastructure and real assets sectors, and those with a longer term sustainable finance focus. 

On 29 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) issued the 43rd edition of the Central Bank AIFMD Q&A, updating Q&A ID 1139.

The amended Q&A, ID 1139, sets out the CBI’s position in relation to non-financial instrument assets a Depositary of Assets other than Financial Instruments (DAoFI) may safe-keep. The list of permissible non-financial asset classes has been updated to include aircraft.

On 29 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) issued the 35th edition of the Central Bank UCITS Q&A, which includes a new Q&A, ID 1104.

The new Q&A, ID 1104, sets out the Central Bank’s expectations in relation to the filing of Key Investor Information Documents (“KIIDs”) for UCITS which are implementing ESMA’s Performance Fee Guidelines with effect from 31 December 2021.

On 1 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland announced the partial transposition of the Investment Firms Directive (IFD) into Irish law.

The Minister for Finance has signed S.I. No.  355 of 2021 and S.I. No. 356 of 2021 to complete a partial transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2034 (the Investment Firms Directive - IFD) and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 (the Investment Firms Regulation – IFR) into Irish law.  These Regulations come into effect immediately.

Article 62(6) of the IFD inserting a new Article 8a into the Capital Requirements Directive and requiring Member States to require certain investment firms to re-authorise as credit institutions remains to be transposed.

On 29 October 2021, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published a Notice on the implementation of competent authority discretions in S.I. No. 355 of 2021 and Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 on the prudential requirements for MiFID investment firms.

Key discretions discussed in this paper relate to the prudential regime applicable to larger MiFID investment firms to ensure such firms are subject to appropriate prudential requirements, to the application of the new liquidity risk requirements and to requirements relating to the assessment of internal capital of smaller MiFID investment firms. Discretions specifically related to the practical implementation of the new prudential regime for MiFID investment firms are also discussed.

On 11 October 2021, the Irish Funds Industry Association announced?Ireland to establish international centre for sustainable finance.

The Minister of Finance announced that a new international Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence is to be established in Ireland next year and financial workforce skills and training in sustainable finance are to be prioritised, as two key actions identified in a new Sustainable Finance Roadmap.

On 27 October 2021, Banca d'Italia updated the circular 154 of 19 November 1991.

This legislation governs the reporting schemes, the system of coding and instructions for the production and forwarding of information flows that banks and other financial institutions must send in a structured manner according to the matrix model, as well as the other reporting forms due by them.

The update includes new reporting codes to the reporting matrix.

On 7 October 2021, CONSOB launched a communication confirming that it would comply with the Guidelines on "obligations related to market data pursuant to MiFID II and MiFIR" issued by the European Authority for Financial Instruments and Markets (ESMA), integrating them into its supervisory practices.

The Guidelines aim to ensure that financial market participants have a uniform understanding of the obligation to provide market data on reasonable commercial terms, and the related transparency requirements, as well as of the obligation to make market data available free of charge 15 minutes after publication (deferred data). In particular, the Guidelines provide recommendations on the following aspects:

• clarity and ease of access to market data policies;
• supply of market data on a cost basis;
• obligation to provide data in a non-discriminatory way;
• commissions per user;
• prohibition to combine data with other services;
• transparency obligations;
• obligation to make market data available free of charge 15 minutes after publication.

On 12 October 2021, the Ministère des Finances published FAQ relating to the use of the AML/CFT good conduct guide.

Given the growing importance of financial restrictive measures and the need to ensure, at all times, the efficient implementation in compliance with the texts in force by all economic and financial operators of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Finance has drawn up two best practices guides on these topics (updated in June 2021 and available in French and in English): 

• Best practices guide relating to the implementation of financial sanctions against certain persons, entities, bodies and groups within the framework of combating terrorism financing; 
• Best practices guide relating to the implementation of financial restrictive measures (sanctions) against third countries, entities or individuals (that do not relate to the combat against terrorism financing).

On 22 October 2021, the Commission De Surveillance Du Secteur Financier (CSSF) informed the Ministry of Finance updated its best practices guides relating to financial sanctions.

These guides contained non-exhaustive and general recommendations on the implementation of financial sanctions. For further details on their content, the CSSF recommended that financial sector professionals subscribe to the Ministry of Finance's newsletter, in order to receive all updates related to financial sanctions.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has posted on its website a new model of quarterly report on frozen funds for the attention of natural and legal persons who are required to execute restrictive measures and must inform the Ministry of Finance of the execution of any new restrictive measure without delay and without waiting for the end of the quarter to do so.

Finally, the CSSF reminded the professionals under its supervision that the aforementioned law of 19 December 2020 confers on it, under article 6 (4), the same powers as those granted by the law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing under articles 8-2, 8-4, 8-5, 8-6 and 8-7.

These guides are in the interest of credit institutions, financial institutions, direct insurance undertakings and reinsurance undertakings with a head office in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, investment firms, any undertaking for collective investment which markets its units or shares, any branch in Luxembourg of the financial institutions referred to in letters (a) to (c), whether their registered office is situated in a Member State of the European Union or in a third country.

On 22 October 2021, the Commission nationale pour la protection des données (CNPD) published its recommendations on the processing of personal data in the context of a health crisis.

Professionals and individuals wish to know both which measures to put in place to limit the spread of the virus and ensure the safe return to work as well as which conditions apply to the processing of personal data, in particular health related data.

Private and public entities may process personal data in accordance with the GDPR when it is strictly necessary for compliance with their legal obligations. These entities may in particular:

• Remind their employees and agents, whose work brings them in contact with other persons, of their obligation to inform either the employer or the Direction of Health of the Ministry of Health – Health Inspection Division (hereafter “the Health Inspection”) of a contamination or a suspicion of contamination, for the sole purpose of enabling the latter to adapt working conditions,
• Invite their employees to consult a doctor or refer them to the Health Inspection and encourage the use of remote working.

Here are six updated CSSF forms concerning investment funds.

On 4 October 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) updated its :

• Registration form for an alternative investment fund manager.
• Form for the De-notification letter of AIF compartment.
• Form for Contract Conformity Letter
• Form for Fund Pre-Inception Readiness Review.

On 10 September 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) updated its Form for Periodical report from the liquidator on the progress of the liquidation.

On 13 October 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) published the Reporting template of frozen funds.

Here are two updated CSSF technical documents on investment funds.

1. On 20 October 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) published Technical document & Form concerning the Dashboard Definitions 2021 of the external asset managers servicing business (EAM), as of 30/06/2021.

Reportable assets should be defined by the following conditions: 

• The reported data should include all assets, booked within the Luxembourg custodian bank… and exclude any assets booked within European branches. 
• The reported data should include all accounts opened in the name of a private person, life insurance policy or other private wealth planning structure (SPF, financial holding company)… and exclude any accounts opened in the name of institutional or global custody clients. 
• The reported data should include any accounts that are managed on a discretionary, or advisory, basis by a third party, independent, professional, asset manager (IAM) licensed to authorize such a profession by a Luxembourg, EU, or other regulator, or affiliated to a self-regulating organization… and exclude any accounts that are managed by the bank, or another bank affiliate within the group.

2. On 21 October 2021, the Commission De Surveillance Du Secteur Financier (CSSF) published its technical document for monthly financial information for guaranteed funds.

The CSSF updated Table O1.2 on schedule of conditions of the XML format as follows: transposition of the document into the applicable graphical charta of the CSSF.

On 14 October 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) published a Circular CSSF 21/785 replacing the prior authorisation obligation by a prior notification obligation in the case of material IT outsourcing.

This circular amends circulars CSSF 12/552 as amended, CSSF 17/656, CSSF 20/758 and CSSF 17/654 as amended, by replacing the prior authorisation requirement with a prior notification requirement in case of material IT outsourcing.

In this context, and in relation to IT outsourcing based on cloud computing infrastructure, the requirements for contract clauses in points 31 a., b. and c. have been clarified. 

On 30 September 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) publishes CSSF Circular 21/783 related to the application of the Guidelines of the European Securities and Market Authority on the MiFID II/MiFIR obligations on market data. 

The purpose of this circular is to inform you that the CSSF, in its capacity as competent authority, applies the Guidelines of ESMA on the MiFID II/MiFIR obligations on market data (Ref. ESMA70-156-4263) (the “Guidelines”), published on 18 August 2021. Consequently, the CSSF has integrated the Guidelines into its administrative practice and regulatory approach with a view to promote supervisory convergence in this field at European level. All regulated markets, market operators, credit institutions, investment firms and market operators operating an MTF or an OTF, APAs and SIs shall duly comply with them.

The present circular shall apply in relation to regulated markets, market operators, credit institutions, investment firms and market operators operating an MTF or an OTF, APAs and SIs when making public market data for the purpose of the pre-trade and post-trade transparency regime.

On 1 October 2021, the Commission de Surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) published CSSF Circular 21/784 on the periodic prudential reporting of investment firms. 

This circular introduces the “Reporting Handbook for Investment Firms“, the purpose of which is to combine, in one single document, the details regarding the content of the periodic prudential reporting of investment firms, consisting of the new IFR reporting and the national reporting, as well as the relevant technical specifications. This Handbook will be regularly updated.

The CSSF specifies that the IFR reporting tables must be transmitted via the new module “Investment firms reporting” on the CSSF’s eDesk platform, under “Investment firms”. Professionals can access the platform via the “Toolbox” of the CSSF’s website as from 1 October 2021. For technical reasons, the CSSF informs that there might be a delay of several days between the submission by the supervised entities concerned by the IFR reporting tables with the reference period as at 30 September 2021 via this new module and the validation of their content by the CSSF.

The national reporting tables will continue to be submitted through the usual transmission mode as specified in Circular CSSF 08/334 and in compliance with the relevant encryption methods.

On 1 October 2021, the Federal Council initiated the consultation on amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance and other ordinances. The proposed amendments provide more detail on the measures in the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act and improve the integrity of the Swiss financial centre.

Parliament approved the revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act on 19 March 2021. This strengthens Switzerland's toolkit to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and includes the most important recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) mutual evaluation report on Switzerland of 2016. The measures require implementing provisions, specifically in the area of the reporting system for money laundering, the introduction of a licencing requirement for purchasing precious metal scrap, the appointment of the Central Office for Precious Metal Control as the new money laundering oversight authority, and the transparency of associations that carry a greater risk of terrorist financing.

The proposed ordinance amendments serve mainly to provide more detail on the adopted measures. In addition, it is planned to use this opportunity to transpose relevant disclosure provisions from the money laundering ordinances of the supervisory authorities and the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) into the Federal Council's money laundering ordinance.

The Federal Council is proposing amendments not just to the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, but also to the Ordinance on the Money Laundering Report Office Switzerland, the Commercial Register Ordinance, the Precious Metals Control Ordinance and the Ordinance on Fees for Precious Metal Control. At the same time, the Federal Customs Administration (FCA) has launched the consultation on its new Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance, which likewise provides more detail on the measures in the revised Anti-Money Laundering Act. The consultation will last until 17 January 2022.

Version française

Le 1er octobre 2021, le Conseil fédéral a ouvert la procédure de consultation relative à la modification de l'ordonnance sur le blanchiment d'argent et d'autres ordonnances. Les modifications proposées précisent les mesures prévues par la loi révisée sur le blanchiment d'argent et améliorent l'intégrité de la place financière suisse.

Le Parlement a adopté la révision de la loi sur le blanchiment d'argent. Cette révision renforce le dispositif permettant à la Suisse de lutter contre le blanchiment d'argent et le financement du terrorisme, et tient compte des principales recommandations du rapport d'évaluation mutuelle de décembre 2016 sur la Suisse rédigé par le Groupe d'action financière (GAFI). Les mesures prévues requièrent des dispositions d'exécution, notamment en ce qui concerne le système de communication des soupçons de blanchiment d'argent, l'introduction d'une obligation d'obtenir une autorisation pour acheter des métaux précieux usagés, la désignation du Bureau central du contrôle des métaux précieux comme nouvelle autorité de surveillance en matière de blanchiment d'argent et la transparence des associations présentant un risque accru de financement du terrorisme.

Les présentes modifications d'ordonnances visent surtout à concrétiser les mesures retenues. Elles ont aussi pour but de transférer dans l'ordonnance du Conseil fédéral sur le blanchiment d'argent des dispositions importantes sur le système de communication figurant actuellement dans les ordonnances des autorités de surveillance et du Département fédéral de justice et police relatives au blanchiment d'argent.

Le Conseil fédéral propose non seulement des modifications dans l'ordonnance sur le blanchiment d'argent, mais aussi dans l'ordonnance sur le Bureau de communication en matière de blanchiment d'argent, dans l'ordonnance sur le registre du commerce et dans l'ordonnance sur les émoluments pour le contrôle des métaux précieux. En parallèle, l'Administration fédérale des douanes ouvre la procédure de consultation concernant sa nouvelle ordonnance sur le blanchiment d'argent qui, elle aussi, concrétise des mesures prévues dans le cadre de la révision de la loi sur le blanchiment d'argent. La consultation se terminera le 17 janvier 2022.

On 27 October 2021, the Federal Council publishes a report entitled "MiFID II and access to financial markets: scenarios and measures aimed at facilitating the cross-border offer of services to private clients in Italy and France".

This report has been drafted in response to a postulate submitted by National Councillor Giovanni Merlini on 27 September 2017 regarding the possibility for Swiss banks to offer cross-border investment services to private clients in Italy and France.

Italy and France have decided to implement the MiFID II Directive in a restrictive way, and to require financial service providers from third countries to establish a branch within the meaning of Art. 39 of the Directive, which is not the case for Germany. Switzerland has concluded a bilateral market access agreement with Germany which allows Swiss banks to manage the assets of clients domiciled in Germany by means of cross-border services.

In principle, the law does not preclude Switzerland and EU Member States such as France or Italy from concluding bilateral agreements authorising certain banks to provide cross-border asset management services on the basis of mutual recognition and specific cooperation on financial market regulatory and supervisory issues.

The scenarios and measures that Switzerland can consider, as requested in the postulate, are therefore very limited, and their realisation depends on the goodwill of the various partners.

Version française

Le 27 octobre 2021, le Conseil fédéral a publié un rapport intitulé "MiFID II et accès aux marchés financiers: scénarios et mesures visant à faciliter l’offre transfrontalière de services à la clientèle privée en Italie et en France".

Le présent rapport a été rédigé en réponse à un postulat déposé par le conseiller national Giovanni Merlini le 27 septembre 2017 au sujet de la possibilité, pour les banques suisses, d’offrir des services d’investissement transfrontaliers à la clientèle privée en Italie et en France.

L’Italie et la France ont décidé de mettre en œuvre la directive MiFID II de manière restrictive, et d’imposer aux prestataires de services financiers de pays tiers l’établissement d’une succursale au sens de l’art. 39 de la directive, ce qui n’est pas le cas de l’Allemagne. La Suisse a conclu avec celle-ci un accord bilatéral sur l’accès aux marchés, qui autorise les banques suisses à gérer la fortune de clients domiciliés en Allemagne par la voie de prestations de service transfrontalières.

En principe, le droit n’exclut pas que la Suisse et des États membres de l’UE tels que la France ou l’Italie concluent des accords bilatéraux autorisant certaines banques, sur la base d’une reconnaissance mutuelle et d’une coopération particulière sur les questions de réglementation et de surveillance des marchés financiers, à fournir des prestations transfrontalières de gestion de fortune.

Les scénarios et les mesures que la Suisse peut envisager, comme le demande le postulat, sont donc très limités, et leur réalisation dépend du bon vouloir des différents partenaires.

On 27 October 2021, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) requested AIFMs to improve their risk management.

The AFM recently conducted an investigation into risk management among AIFMs that were legally licensed in 2014. This study looked at the extent to which the requirements of the AIFM guideline, with regard to risk management are complied with and to what extent the best practices in the field of risk management (provided in 2018 as a result of research among the same group of managers) were followed up to improve compliance with the AIFM guideline.

The AFM has sent a feedback letter  to all AIFMs containing points for improvement. The AFM expects AIFMs to implement improvements in their organization where necessary. All administrators who were part of the survey also received individual feedback. The AFM will continue to pay attention to the risk management of AIFMs.

Although there has been a clear improvement, the AFM still sees a few points for attention. For example, the nature of the potential conflicts of interest in the risk management policy is still very limited in a number of cases.  The risk management policy was also not continuously updated in all cases, as a result of which the risk policy no longer corresponds to daily practice. Finally, at one party, risk management and portfolio management activities were not completely separated from each other. This separation is of great importance in order to guarantee an independent execution of risk management.

On 26 October 2021, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) published a report: How investment institution managers comply with the Wwft and Sanctions Act.

The vast majority of investment fund managers, almost 90%, have policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and to comply with sanctions legislation.

The vast majority have policies to combat risks 

87% of the managers of investment institutions have drawn up a policy to perform their function as gatekeepers, to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. A slightly smaller group has a policy for compliance with the sanctions regulations and almost 82% of the sector indicates that it has a general integrity policy. 

Nearly 90% make risk assessment of investors

In the context of the Wwft client survey, almost 87% of the managers always make a risk assessment of their investors, 6% do this in certain cases and 7% never do this.

Almost half do not draw up a transaction profile

More than 48% of the managers always draw up a profile of the transactions that they can expect from the client. 6% of the managers only prepare an expected transaction profile for clients with a medium or high/high risk profile. 45% of the managers do not prepare an expected transaction profile of their clients. An expected transaction profile can help monitor transactions and detect unusual transactions.

Nearly 96% of the managers who do draw up an expected transaction profile, check whether the client's transaction pattern matches the pre-established expectation when monitoring transactions.

Reporting unusual transactions deserves extra attention

In the response to the questionnaire, 94% of the managers indicate that they take action when an alert arises from monitoring client transactions. The number of actual reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)-NL is lagging behind. The FIU is the body to which reports of unusual transactions must be made.

Relatively large share of assets in risk sectors and risk countries

The report shows that more than 15% of the investment institutions have invested their capital in assets that fall into high-risk categories in connection with money laundering or terrorist financing. It concerns an amount of €146 billion. Almost all the money involved is in real estate. 

In addition to investing in high-risk assets, just over 15% of the investment institutions indicate that they have positions in one or more countries that the AFM considers risky. The value of the positions in these countries is almost €62 billion. Of the high-risk countries, the Cayman Islands has the most assets in open positions.

96% response to questionnaire

The report 'Poortwachters portrayed'  is drawn up on the basis of an annual questionnaire about compliance with the Wwft and Sanctions Act by managers of investment institutions. 583 administrators completed the list, a response rate of 96%. It provides the AFM with insight into the risks that investment institutions run and how these risks are reduced.

On 27 October 2021, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) published a report on how managers of alternative investment funds (AIFMs) comply with the Act on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme, Wwft) and the Sanctions Act 1977 (Sanctiewet 1977):

• -a large part of the assets under management are invested in sectors and countries with an increased risk of money laundering and terrorist financing
• the majority of AIFMs has policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing
• a part of the AIFMs always performs risk assessments covering their investors as part of their client due diligence investigation under the Wwft
• almost half of the AIFMs have not yet drawn up expected transaction profiles
• the reporting of unusual transactions by AIFMs to the Financial Intelligence Unit Netherlands is not yet up to standard 

The AFM notes that AIFMs should be screening their clients against all of three sanctions lists.

On 1 October 2021, the Regulation of De Nederlandsche Bank NV and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets of 16 September 2021 containing rules with regard to the controlled remuneration policy of banks, investment firms and premium pension institutions (Regulation on controlled remuneration policy under the Wft 2021) was published in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Banks and investment firms shall ensure that the companies referred to in Article 109, second paragraph, of the Capital Requirements Directive pursue a remuneration policy that complies with the requirements of this Annex. A bank or investment firm conducts a remuneration policy, including salaries and benefits under discretionary pensions, for the categories of staff whose professional activities materially influence the risk profile of the institution.

The management body of a bank or investment firm in its supervisory function adopts the general principles of the remuneration policy, reviews them periodically and is responsible for supervising their implementation. The implementation of the remuneration policy is subject to a central and independent internal review at least annually to verify compliance with the remuneration policy and the remuneration procedures adopted by the management body.

On 8 October 2021, amendments of the Financial Supervision Act and the Bankruptcy Act in connection with the implementation of the Directive on the issuance of covered bonds and the government supervision of covered bonds (Covered Bond Directive Implementation Act) were proposed in the Official Journal.

This memorandum of amendment contains a number of technical legislative improvements to the bill. 

Article 3:33ba(1) changes the frequency with which a bank that issues covered bonds must provide information to the Dutch Central Bank. The periodicity for providing the information will be determined by order in council. This offers the option of arranging for certain information to be provided less often than every quarter, which contributes to lowering the administrative burden.

A legal basis is added to Section 3:33b(3) so that further rules can be laid down by Order in Council with regard to the calculation of the coverage requirement, including the principle that the liabilities are valued at nominal value. In view of the technical nature of the aforementioned rules, elaboration at the level of an order in council is considered appropriate.

On 20 October 2021, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) informed the submission for a licence for crowdfunding services has started.

Existing crowdfunding service providers can submit their applications for licenses under this new regulation as of 10 November 2021. The submission deadline for existing parties is 10 May 2022. For example, the AFM expects that the application can be processed before 11 November 2022, the date that existing parties must have a license under the new regulation in order to continue their crowdfunding services. 

New parties can also apply for a licence from 10 November 2021.

On 25 October 2021, the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands proposed an Amendment Act Financial Markets 2022.

The Netherlands consider that it is desirable to offer certain financial undertakings the opportunity to maintain an account with segregated assets, to increase the stability of the levies imposed by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the Dutch Central Bank on supervised persons, as well as to make some other amendments and improvements to the legislation in the field of financial markets.

The bill amends the Wft to provide for the option for settlement companies, payment institutions, electronic money institutions (EGIs) and investment firms to use an account with separate assets. The proposed amendments to the Wbft aim to increase the stability of the levies imposed by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on supervised persons. In addition, the amount of fines and periodic penalty payments that flows back to the sector will be increased, as enforcement costs have increased in recent years.

The bill also contains a number of other amendments. This concerns the introduction of the mandatory audit of the financial statements of payment institutions and EGIs, the provision of a lighter regime for certain foreign investment fund managers, an arrangement for the management of an undertaking for collective investment in securities (UCITS) with its registered office in Netherlands by administrators with registered office in another Member State, the introduction of an ongoing reputation requirement for holders of a declaration of no objection (DNO) for the acquisition or increase of a qualifying holding in a financial undertaking, and the restoration of the possibility to publish the imposition of an order subject to periodic penalty payments by the supervisor for violation of the obligation to cooperate under Section 5:20 of the General Administrative Law Act (Awb). 

To this end, amendments to the Wft are proposed and, in connection with the last-mentioned subject, also to the Wwft, the Wtt and the Wta.

On 18 October 2021, the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands launched a consultation on Decree on reporting the male-female ratio in the management report of large companies.

This draft order amends the Decree on the content of management reports. An article will be added to this Decree to make it compulsory for large companies to report in their management report on the male/female ratios at the top (management board and supervisory board) and subtop (employees in managerial positions), on the self-imposed targets for their top and subtop, on a plan of action for achieving these targets and on the results achieved.

On 26 October 2021, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM) published a communication informing the Netherlands comply with the ESMA G

The AFM checks whether the advertisement meets the requirements of the guidelines. The guidelines are not intended to replace existing national rules for the information to be included in advertisements.

The guidelines stem from Article 4 of EU Regulation 2019/1156 that facilitates the cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings.

In particular, the guidelines address:

• Advertisements recognizable as such
• Describing risks and benefits in an equally striking manner
• Presenting advertisements in a correct, clear and non-misleading manner, taking into account the online aspects of such communications.

The guidelines apply to UCITS management companies, including UCITS that have not designated a UCITS management company, AIFMs, EuVECA managers and EuSEF managers from 2 February 2022.

On 2 November 2021, the Netherlands transposed the cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings by publishing the Act of 13 October 2021 amending the Financial Supervision Act implementing Directive (EU) 2019/1160 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directives 2009/65/EC and 2011/61/EU with regard to the cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings (OJEU 2019, L 188) (Wet implementation of the directive on the cross-border distribution of investment institutions and UCITS) in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On 28 October 2021, the Dutch Banking Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken, NVB) published a Government Letter on the Netherlands progress towards sustainable finance.

The letter describes what the signatories of the Climate Commitment  are doing to contribute to the Paris Climate Agreement. For example, various banks, Dutch asset managers and insurers have joined Net-Zero Banking and the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative. These international partnerships represent trillions of assets and together counteract greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. In addition, they bring the various portfolios of companies in line with the net zero emissions for 2050. Banks, asset managers, insurers and pension funds actively address companies about their climate policy, for example through Climate Action 100+. This international partnership of some 600 investors and asset managers aims to bring the activities of the 167 most carbon-intensive companies in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. In addition, several companies have made net-zero commitments at the urging of investors. 

On 21 October 2021, the Banco de Espana (BDE) launched registration of providers of virtual currency exchange services for fiduciary currency and custody of electronic wallets. 

The procedure is available at the Electronic Headquarters of the Bank of Spain, together with the instructions and forms necessary to request registration in the Registry of virtual currency exchange service providers for fiduciary currency and custody of electronic purses, provided for in the provision Second additional law of Law 10/2010, of April 28, on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

On 9 October 2021, the Comicion Nacional del Mercado del valores (CNMV) published a new Circular amending the structure and templates for annual corporate governance reports and reports on the remuneration of board members of listed companies.

The main modifications introduced in the structure and template used for annual reports on the remuneration of the board members of listed companies are as follows: 

• they must report on any deviations from the procedure for the application of the remuneration policy and on any temporary exceptions that have been applied; 
• -they must include an explanation of how the remuneration accrued and vested in the financial year contributes to the long-term and sustainable performance of the company;
• a new section has been added to compare the annual amounts accrued and the annual changes over the last five years in the remuneration of each of the board members, in the consolidated results of the company and in the average remuneration on a full-time equivalent basis of the employees of the company and its subsidiaries who are not board members. 

As regards the annual corporate governance report on listed companies, the main changes introduced in the structure and template are as follows:

• it provides for the reporting, where appropriate, of "double loyalty voting shares"; 
• the section on related-party transactions has been brought into line with the definitions and criteria set out in the Spanish Corporate Enterprises Act; 
• information is requested on positions held by board members in other listed and unlisted companies and about board members' other remunerated activities.

Finally, the annual corporate governance report templates applicable to other securities issuers, other than savings banks, and to institutional public sector entities have been eliminated, since Spanish Law 5/2021 has repealed the obligation to prepare a corporate governance report for these entities. 

Circular 3/2021, of 28 September 2021, will enter into force on the day following its publication in the Spanish Official State Gazette and will be applicable to the annual reports on board members' remuneration and the annual corporate governance reports that the reporting companies must submit for financial years ending on or after 31 December 2021.

On 8 October 2021, the Comicion Nacional del Mercado del valores (CNMV) published a new Circular on statistical reporting requirements for EU money market funds. 

Following the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2021/379 of the European Central Bank, of 22 January 2021, on the balance sheet items of credit institutions and of the monetary financial institutions sector, it is necessary to amend the content of the confidential statistical information statements of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU templates), contained in the Annex to CNMV Circular 4/2014, of 27 October. The new Circular repeals: 

• CNMV Circular 2/1998, of 27 July, on statistical reporting requirements for collective investment schemes of the Economic and Monetary Union; 
• CNMV Circular 1/2007, of 11 July, on statistical reporting requirements for EU collective investment schemes; and 
• CNMV Circular 4/2014, of 27 October, amending CNMV Circular 1/2007. 

The amendments are highly technical and detailed with regard to the information required for the confidential statements. The first confidential information statements to be submitted, adapted to the new EMU templates, will be those relating to January 2022. 

On 13 October 2021, the Comicion Nacional del Mercado del valores (CNMV) published statement on the temporary trading prohibition applicable to persons discharging managerial responsibilities within an issuer in relation to quarterly financial information.

The CNMV  clarifies that the restriction on trading during closed periods applicable to all persons discharging managerial responsibilities within an issuer, pursuant to Article 19 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 16 April 2014, on market abuse (“MAR”), solely applies with regard to the publication of an interim financial report or an annual report which the issuer is obliged to make public pursuant to the rules of the trading venue where the issuer’s shares are admitted to trading or national law. Therefore, the restriction does not apply to the publication of quarterly financial information that the issuers make on a voluntary basis.

However, although the obligation to publish periodic quarterly financial information will no longer exist under the regulations governing the periodic financial information to be published by the issuers, it should be noted that the quarterly financial statements could contain inside information in certain cases, according to the judgement made by the issuer pursuant to Article 7 of MAR. Therefore, all persons who are aware of such information, regardless of whether or not they are persons discharging managerial responsibilities, shall refrain from trading in the security in question as long as the information is not public, in accordance with the insider dealing prohibition under Article 14 of MAR.

Background: the DTO requires that financial and certain non-financial counterparties conclude transactions in standardized and liquid over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives only on regulated trading venues. These venues include regulated markets (RMs), multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), organised trading facilities (OTFs) and third country trading venues considered to be equivalent for the purposes of the DTO (in line with Article 28(1)(d) of UK MiFIR).

This new Policy Statement (PS) will affect financial counterparties (such as banks and investment firms) and non-financial counterparties that are, or may become, subject to the DTO. It is also of interest to regulated trading venues, including third country trading venues that are considered equivalent for the purposes of the DTO, and to central counterparties (CCPs).

With this PS, the FCA confirmed the changes proposed in CP21/22. In particular, FCA’s liquidity analysis indicates that SONIA OIS as a class of OTC derivatives is sufficiently liquid to impose a DTO. Further, given relevant deadlines planned for the end of 2021 for GBP LIBOR, the FCA expects liquidity in SONIA swaps to increase further in the course of 2021.

On 15 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its questions and answers on LIBOR and the FCA's new powers under the UK Benchmarks Regulation, particular on:

• Impact on contract provisions
• Use of synthetic LIBOR after end-2021
• Implementing synthetic LIBOR.

On 27 October 2021, the UK Government launched a consultation on a new UK re-domiciliation regime, which lasts until 7 January 2022.

This consultation seeks views on the introduction of a UK re-domiciliation regime, which would make it possible for companies to re-domicile and therefore easier to relocate to the UK.

In this consultation, the UK Government sets out the proposals and seek views on:

• The advantages of enabling companies to re-domicile
• The level of demand that exists, among which types of companies and sectors
• The appropriate checks and entry criteria
• The merits of establishing an outward re-domiciliation regime
• Any tax implications associated with the introduction of a re-domiciliation regime.

On 11 October 2021, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2021 was published in the UK Official Journal. 

The Principal Order exempts certain persons from the general prohibition set out in section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (c.8), which provides that no person may carry on a regulated activity within the UK unless that person is either authorised or exempt. This Order amends the Principal Order by adding UK Infrastructure Bank Limited to the list of persons in Part 1 of the Schedule who are exempt in respect of any regulated activity other than insurance business.

The Order amends the list of persons in Part 1 of the Schedule to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Exemption) Order 2001 to include UK Infrastructure Bank Limited. The purpose is to exempt the Company from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activities specified in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, other than the regulated activity specified in article 10 of the RAO (effecting and carrying out contracts of insurance).

On 11 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Remote or hybrid working expectations for firms on a specific webpage. The expectations apply to existing firms, firms applying to be regulated and firms proposing to submit further applications, such as a waiver, variation of permission, change of control etc.

Firms considering remote or hybrid working will be evaluated by us on a case-by-case basis. 

How firms operate their business 

Firms should be able to prove that the lack of a centralised location or remote working does not or is unlikely to: 

• Affect the firm’s location in the UK, or its ability to meet and continue to meet the threshold conditions for the regulated activities it has or will have permission for – or any equivalent requirements, where these do not apply.
• Prevent the FCA receiving information about a firm.
• Reduce the accuracy of the Financial Services (FS) Register for others if, for example, consumers are not able to contact the firm at the principal place of business shown on the FS Register. 
• Affect the ability of the firm to oversee its functions including any outsourced functions. 
• Cause detriment to consumers. 
• Damage the integrity of the market. 
• Increase the risk of financial crime. 
• Reduce competition. 

A firm must also prove that there is satisfactory planning.

Here are two FCA Handbook Notice (No 91 and no. 92).

1. On 1 October, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Handbook Notice No 91.

This Handbook Notice describes the changes to the FCA Handbook and other material made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Board under its legislative and other statutory powers on 30 September 2021: 

• Consumer Credit (Fixed Instalment Plan Repayment Allocation) (Amendment) Instrument 2021
• Handbook Administration (No 57) Instrument 2021

2. On 22 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Handbook Notice No 92 which describes the changes to the FCA Handbook and other material made by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Board under its legislative and other statutory powers on 30 September 2021 and 21 October 2021:

• Conduct of Business Sourcebook (Assessing Value for Money in Workplace Pension Schemes and Investment Pathways: Requirements for IGCS and GAAS) Instrument 2021
• Technical Standards (Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation) (Derivatives Trading Obligation) Instrument 2021
• Investment Firms Prudential Regime Instrument 2021
• Investment Firms Prudential Regime (Consequential Amendments to Other Prudential Sourcebooks) Instrument 2021
• Supervision Manual (Reporting No 16) Instrument 2021.

On 22 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Investment Firms Prudential Regime final rules.

The IFPR will streamline and simplify FCA’s prudential requirements. It will refocus requirements and expectations away from the risks that firms face, to also consider and look to manage the potential harm firms can pose to consumers and markets.

The final rules are in the legal instruments – FCA 2021/38 and FCA 2021/39. The FCA will publish a third policy statement by the end of 2021. 

The FCA also published an updated version of FCA’s General guidance on the application of ex-post risk adjustment to variable remuneration, which brings FCA investment firms into scope of the guidance, together with:

• a Remuneration Policy Statement template, which FCA investment firms can use to document their remuneration policies and practices
• a template, which FCA investment firms can use to record their material risk takers.

The IFPR will apply to the following: MiFID investment firms authorised and regulated by the FCA, Collective Portfolio Management Investment Firms (CPMIs), regulated and unregulated holding companies of groups that contain either of the former types. The IFPR will not apply to PRA designated investment firms which will remain subject to prudential supervision by the PRA.

The final rules will come into force on 1 January 2022.

On 25 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published PS21/14 - A new authorised fund regime for investing in long term assets.

The FCA has confirmed that it will be taking forward proposals to create a new type of open-ended authorised investment fund which will help support investment in assets like infrastructure and private equity. Investment in these assets has the potential to generate better returns for investors, including those saving for retirement in defined contribution (DC) pension schemes and appropriately managed, can also benefit the wider economy by supporting the economic recovery from Covid-19 and supporting financial stability.

The new rules create a Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF) regime, a new FCA regulated fund that is designed specifically to help investment in assets including venture capital, private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure. As investments in this type of fund may take longer to sell, the FCA has put in place rules to ensure there is a consistency between how long it will take to sell assets and how often and quickly an investor will be able to sell out of the fund.

This policy statement will primarily be of interest to: 

• asset managers with experience of managing illiquid, long-term assets 
• depositaries 
• potential investors in long-term asset funds, like pension providers and trustees of DC or hybrid pension schemes, and sophisticated or wealthy investors 
• investment advisers and private wealth managers 
• insurers who write unit-linked insurance business 
• fund distributors.

The FCA will be consulting next year on the potential for widening the distribution of the LTAF to certain retail investors. While this would potentially open a controlled route for retail investors to higher risk assets than some of the other routes currently available such as unauthorised funds, safeguards would also be needed to ensure retail investors understand the risks involved. Next year’s consultation will set out proposals for how this could be achieved.

On 21 October 2021, the S.I. 2021 No. 1173 - The Financial Services Act 2021 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2021 was published in the UK legislation.

Section 31 of the Financial Services Act 2021 (maximum sentences for insider dealing and financial services offences) comes into force on 1 November 2021.

Section 31 amends section 61 of the Criminal Justice Act and section 92 of the Financial Services Act 2012 to increase the maximum sentence for conviction on indictment for insider dealing offences from seven to ten years.

On 14 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated the UK SFTR validation rules.

These amendments will apply from 14 April 2022.

On 21 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) informed that the Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF), co-chaired by the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), published its second round of guides (Session 2 guides) to help the financial sector develop its approach to addressing climate-related financial risks and opportunities. These guides incorporate best practice and are written by industry, for industry. The Session 2 guides are focused on risk management, scenario analysis, disclosure, innovation, and climate data and metrics and build on the guide that was published on 29 June 2020. 

A total of 10 different outputs have been published by the various working groups:

• Risk Management – Risk appetite statements
• Risk Management  - Use cases
• Risk Management – Climate risk training
• Scenario  Analysis – Implementation guide
• Scenario Analysis – Data and tools providers spreadsheet
• Disclosure – Case studies
• Disclosure – Managing legal risk
• Innovation – Commentary report
• Innovation – Case study videos
• Climate Data and Metrics - Guide.

Many of the Session 2 guides will help firms accelerate their efforts in responding effectively to climate-related financial risks. In particular, the risk appetite statements, scenario analysis guide, disclosure case studies and the climate data and metrics dashboard have been deliberately designed to enable firms to overcome the significant challenges that they have encountered in embedding climate risk management in their organisations. The Innovation chapter provides commentary on actionable innovation opportunities to mobilise financial capital and help steward the economy to net zero.

On 28 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) informed on the Climate Change Adaptation Reports of the 4 UK financial regulators (FCA, PRA, TPR and FRC).

• The FCA’s report sets out the steps that the FCA has seen the industry take to mitigate the risks climate change presents and the FCA identifies areas, such as retail investments and mortgages, where more needs to be done. 
• The PRA’s report sets out the risks from climate change to PRA objectives and PRA’s response to them. This includes how climate-related financial risks affect the firms that the PRA regulates, PRA’s work to support and drive improvements in firms’ capabilities to manage these risks effectively, and PRA^s consideration of what further policy action may be necessary. 
• The TPR’s report includes a guidance clarifying what the TPR will look for from schemes as they assess, manage and prepare to report on climate-related risk and opportunities. 
• The FRC’s Climate Change Adaptation Report will be published later this year.

On 13 October 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to modernize filing fee disclosure and payment methods. Operating companies and investment companies (funds) pay filing fees when engaging in certain transactions, including registered securities offerings, tender offers, and mergers and acquisitions.

The amendments revise most fee-bearing forms, schedules, and related rules to require companies and funds to include all required information for filing fee calculation in a structured format. The amendments also add new options for Automated Clearing House (ACH) and debit and credit card payment of filing fees and eliminate infrequently used options for filing fee payment via paper checks and money orders. The amendments are intended to improve filing fee preparation and payment processing by facilitating both enhanced validation through filing fee structuring and lower-cost, easily routable payments through the ACH payment option.

The adopting release will be published in the Federal Register. The amendments generally will be effective on Jan. 31, 2022. The amendments that will add the options for filing fee payment via ACH and debit and credit cards and eliminate the option for filing fee payment via paper checks and money orders will be effective on May 31, 2022.  The Commission is providing an extended transition period to give filers additional time to comply with the Inline XBRL structuring requirements for filing fee information.

On 22 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Resolution 58 concerning the changes to accounting standards.

The document presents changes in Technical Pronouncements CPC 37 (R1), CPC 48, CPC 29, CPC 27, CPC 25 and CPC 15 (R1) due to modifications approved by the IASB in the 2018-2020 improvement cycle document(Annual Improvements 2018-2020) and IAS 16 (CPC 27), IFRS 3 (CPC 15 R1) and IAS 37 (CPC 25).

On 4 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Circular Letter CVM/SEP 05/21 concerning Registration Form on the Empresas.Net System.

This Circular Letter aims to inform companies open and foreign information about the continuity of the migration process of structured forms of the Empresas.Net System for the web platform, which represents an evolution of the System and, in a period not yet estimated, it will result in eliminating the use of the application (client).

As the next step in the migration process, starting from 01.11.2021 , it will be allowed, but not mandatory, to complete and send the Formulário Cadastral (Registration Form - FCA) through the “FCA Online” functionality, available on the Empresas.Net System, in the menu " “Envio de documentos", dispensing with the procedure for filling out and generating this form in the client.

The use of the new structure will be mandatory from 01.01.2022, when the deactivation of FCA on the client will occur, including for eventual resubmissions of FCA forms.

Thus, in the period from 11.01.2021 to 12.31.2021, they will be allowed deliveries of FCA completed either through the client or through of FCA Online.

On 15 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Resolution 53 concerning its Integrated Risk Management System (SGR), which disciplines and consolidates the regime applicable to internal risk management structures, including the supervision and inspection activities of the CVM.

The risks dealt with in this Resolution have the following natures:

I - economic risk: that which manifests itself outside the CVM, associated with events that may affect the structure and functioning of the securities market

II - operational risk: that which manifests itself internally to CVM, arising from events related to system failures, management failures, control failures and human errors associated with CVM's operational processes and resources

III - integrity risk: that which arises from events related to corruption, fraud, irregularities or ethical and conduct deviations that may compromise values and standards recommended by CVM and the achievement of its objectives.

On 22 October 2021 the Brazilian Financial and Capital Markets Association (ANBIMA) published Supervision Notice regarding the Reversal of the flexibility measures of the Certification Code and resumption of deadlines related to your Terms of Commitment.

From 10 January 2021, the mandatory certification of professionals from the institutions participating in ANBIMA’s Certification Code is again valid. The rules had been relaxed during the pandemic period, first in 2020 and again throughout this year. The objective of the measure was to minimize the impacts of the health crisis on the market: once the exams were suspended, the houses were temporarily allowed to hire or re-replace professionals for self-regulated activities, even without valid certification.

With the return of the rules in 2022, the institutions again have the following obligations:

• Only professionals who have the necessary certifications for the activity performed may be hired or relocated internally, as established by self-regulation.
• The deadline for employees hired during flexibility to be certified in the exams corresponding to their duties will begin, as agreed in the action plans (in the case of institutions that already participated in self-regulation) or in terms of adequacy (sent by the institutions that adhered to the codes during the pandemic).
• In the case of distribution professionals, CPA-10, CPA-20 or CEA certifications must be obtained within three months by 10 April 2022.
• Management professionals have six months, until July 10, 2022,to present CGA or CGE certificates (depending on the fund managed by the professional).
• The terms of commitment signed during the period of flexibility and which have as a condition the certification of professionals of the institution will have the counting of deadlines resumed. The adequacy periods established in each term will be restarted from the point at which they had been suspended.

On 1 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Circular Letter CVM/SMI/SIN 02/2021 on suitability best practices.

The document has information on best practices regarding:

• Harmonization of the period for updating the investment profile of customers with the period of updating the registration data of customers.
• Applications for professional or qualified investors.

On 20 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Resolution 57 concerning proof of settlement of debts with the CVM.

The proof of payment of debts with CVM is carried out upon the presentation of a Certidão Negativa de Débitos (CND), to be issued by the CVM, and whose model is reflected in Annex A to this Resolution. It has the same effects with the Certidão Positiva de Débitos com Efeitos de Negativa (CPDEN), whose model is reflected in Annex B to this Resolution.

On 1 October 2021, the Provisional Measure No 1072 concerning the changes of the calculation method of the Inspection Fee of the securities markets was published in the Diário Oficial da União do Brasil (DOU).

Natural and legal persons under application scope include:

II - national publicly-held companies and foreign companies subject to registration with the CVM;

III - securitization companies;

IV - investment funds, regardless of the assets that make up their portfolio;

V - securities portfolio managers;

VI - independent auditors subject to registration with the CVM;

VII - autonomous investment agents;

VIII - securities analysts and consultants;

IX - companies benefiting from resources arising from tax incentives registered with the CVM;

X - the managing entities of organized securities markets;

XI - securities depository centers and other institutions operating market infrastructures;

XII - electronic collective investment platforms and legal entities, headquartered in Brazil or abroad, participating in an experimental regulatory environment within the scope of CVM;

XIII - the investor, individual or collective, natural or legal person, fund or other collective investment entity, with residence, head office or domicile abroad, registered with CVM as holder of its own account or collective portfolio;

XIV - risk rating agencies;

XV - fiduciary agents;

XVI - providers of securities bookkeeping and custody services; and

XVII - issuers of securities exempt or not from registration with the CVM, including issuers of securities deposit certificates.

On 20 October 2021, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published Resolution 54 concerning its supervision fees.

This Resolution provides for the supervision fee established by Law No. 7.940, of 20th of December 1989, with regard to:

I – deadlines and forms of payment;

II – internal routines related to the fiscal administrative procedure for launching; and

III - processing and judgment of subsequent challenges and appeals.

On 29 October 2021, the Unidad de Proyección Normativa y Estudios de Regulación Financiera (URF) launched a consultation on the Draft Decree on the Issuance of bonds by FIC. The technical document can be accessed through the following link : www.urf.gov.co/webcenter/ShowProperty

The national government has within its policy objectives the promotion of the capital market.

This technical document and its draft decree, contains a series of proposals that seek to promote efficiencies in the capital market, promote the access of new issuers to alternative sources of funding, such as the issuance of debt for part of the closed collective investment funds, expand the investment products available to different types of investors and the lifting of some prohibitions which can be treated as conflicts of interest, and to that extent be managed and disclosed to the market.

The consultation closes on 13 November 2021.

On 22 October 2021, the Banco de la República published the Financial Markets Report - Third Quarter 2021.

This report seeks to provide the public with a general analysis of the behavior and trends of the national and international financial markets. Additionally, the report indicates the main factors that explain the behavior of these markets, as well as their interactions. The report also presents a description of the main changes in monetary policy and central bank decisions worldwide.

On 29 October 2021, the Unidad de Proyección Normativa y Estudios de Regulación Financiera (URF) published a Draft Decree on Open Finance. The technical document was published on the same day and can be accessed on the following link: www.urf.gov.co/webcenter/ShowProperty

The financial system is going through a profound transformation process and is facing different competitive dynamics, with greater diversity of actors and a financial consumer with high expectations of personalization and added value in their interaction with the system. In response, entities have been adjusting their models to distribute their products in digital environments, complement its offer with third-party products and expand its portfolio by commercializing technology and infrastructure services.

The circulation of consumer data between financial institutions and third parties allies is an enabler for all these dynamics. Various developed countries and Emerging companies have advanced legal and regulatory initiatives to promote greater openness of the system and usability of the data for the benefit of the financial consumer.

The current Draft proposal provides for a regulatory intervention based on general principles and rules that promote open finance in Colombia and promote greater competition, inclusion and efficiency in the provision of financial services.

The proposal seeks to: i) specify the rules applicable to the exchange of consumer data; ii) frame the administration of digital platforms and the provision of services by of the entities, iii) regulate the initiation of payments and, iv) strengthen the standards of consumer protection in the digital age.

The consultation closes on 24 November 2021.

On 1 October 2021, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC) warned about six firms falsely present themselves as being monitored by the Financial Superintendency: “FINANCIERA GESTIONES FACTORIN”, “FINANCIERA CSR S.A.S.”, “CREDITOS INVERSIONES SARAUELI”, “ASEGURADORA ABC SEGUROS”, “COOPERATIVA COOPSURAMERICA” y “CREDIFINANCIACIÓN”.

On 8 October 2021, the Banco de México (Banxico) published an information on the process of transition from LIBOR rates to new benchmark rates aligned to international standards.

The transition from LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) rates to the new reference rates that comply with the principles established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Commission Organization de Valores (IOSCO), is an issue of high importance for global financial stability.

For this reason, Banco de México, as a member of the FSB's Public Sector Coordination Group (OSSG, for its acronym in English), has been actively involved in this transition. The FSB has emphasized that financial and non-financial companies in all jurisdictions should continue their efforts to make greater use of reference rates aligned with international standards, thus reducing the use of rates that are not based on market events, such as LIBOR rates, which from the end of 2021 will cease to be published.

On 27 October 2021, the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP) published a Communiqué No. 60.  on the government securities exchange operation in the local debt market.

The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit carried out a government securities exchange operation with institutional investors participating in the local debt market.

The purposes of this operation were: I) to optimize the maturity profile of the internal debt of the Federal Government, and II) to allow holders of government debt to recalibrate their debt portfolios in order to help preserve the proper functioning of the debt market. local debt, in the short part of both the nominal and real curves.

The operation consisted of the execution of two transactions:

• In the first place, the debt was canceled through a repurchase at market interest rates of Bonos and Udibonos with maturities between 2021 and 2023, for an amount of 212,103 million pesos.
• Second, an auction was held for the placement of government securities for $ 217,275 million with maturity between 2023 and 2031. The total demand for this operation amounted to $ 231,728 million.

This swap was carried out without incurring additional indebtedness and complying with the debt ceilings approved by the H. Congress of the Union for fiscal year 2021.

On 7 October 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated its Consolidated assessment ratings.