Dear Readers,
the EU Commission presented its proposals for strengthening a sustainable financial system at the end of May. Investors should be informed about sustainable financial products, which should also be included in investment considerations.
A classification system will decide which investments and assets are considered sustainable in the future. A regulatory anchoring of ESG (“environmental, social, governance”) requirements for investment strategies is contained in the legislative package of the
EU Commission at present, however.
Incidentally, we report briefly on various activities of the European supervisory authority in our June issue.
With warm regards,
Henning Brockhaus
European supervision
European supervisory authorities publish joint annual report 2017
On May 22, 2018, the European financial regulators EBA, ESMA and EIOPA published the joint report “Joint Committee Annual Report 2017” with the objectives achieved in 2017.
In particular, the supervisory authorities report on successes in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, the identification of risks to financial stability has been a consistent objective at the forefront of the work of the three supervisory authorities.
The Joint Committee report can be found here.
European supervision
ESMA updates various Q&A catalogs
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has updated some of its question and answer catalogs:
- Q&A on MiFID2/MiFIR (investor protection)
- Q&A on the application of the UCITS Directive
- Q&A on the application of the Benchmark Regulation
- Q&A on EMIR
European legislation
EU Commission publishes proposal to promote a sustainable financial system
The EU Commission has published a legislative proposal to promote a sustainable financial system.
The proposal includes the introduction of a classification system that can be used to record sustainable activities, especially with regard to environmental aspects.
In addition, fund companies and asset managers will be given new transparency requirements, and investment and insurance advisors as well as asset managers will be required to ask customers about sustainability preferences and include them in suitability tests.
More information on this and the legislative proposal can be found here.
European supervision
ESMA publishes suitability guidelines on MiFID2
On May 28, 2018, ESMA published guidelines on the suitability test in investment advice and asset management. They are based on the text of ESMA’s 2012 Guidelines on MiFID1 (2012 Guidelines), but add further details to them and also take into account
– technological developments in the area of investment advice, in particular the increased use of robo-advice, as well as
– the experience of national supervisors with regard to the application of suitability criteria (including the 2012 Guidelines)
You can access the Guidelines here (as part of the Final Report).
