Updates & insights

As custodian of EU market functioning, stability, and investor protection, ESMA it all too aware that Covid-19 pandemic is causing firms a number of operational difficulties with regulatory compliance. ESMA initial response has been to publish a number of statements to keep compliance on track. Elsewhere, record-breaking intraday volatility has

The spread of the COVID-19 is progressing rapidly worldwide and has already developed into a global pandemic. At this point in time we can only guess how this pandemic will impact our lives and economy in the future. However, the first signs are already noticeable  after this short time. National

As experts on cloud-based Regulatory Reporting we are prepared and used to work remotely since our start in 2013. Therefore please be assured that our services will be continued without any disruption. Are you searching for a cloud-based Regulatory Reporting service to cover your compliance obligations fully automated under various

Dark Pools : Will it take a MiFID III to move equity trading into the light? A key objective of MiFID II is improved market transparency, achieved primarily by moving OTC trading out of its ‘murky and opaque’ underworld on to ‘lit’ exchanges. This improves market stability by allowing regulators

“Will MIFID II’s failure to deliver cost reductions in market data create another driver for MIFID III?” In its recent review of MiFID II, ESMA concluded that there has been a failure to deliver reductions in the cost of market data provided by trading venues and Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs).

With MiFID II celebrating its second birthday, ESMA is preparing a series of review reports on the operation of MiFID II to be delivered to the European Commission through 2020. ESMA is likely to propose changes to MiFID II in response to some vocal criticism from some market participants and

With less than 3 months to go before the first SFT reporting deadline, firms subject to that deadline should now be very well advanced with their system testing. Yet we hear that there is still a sizeable number of firms who have not even started their SFTR preparations, let alone

As 2019 comes to an end it is time for us to have a look back at what happened regarding the various regulations. We also want to take this opportunity to give you an outlook on the upcoming year 2020. SFTR Certainly, one of the most discussed topics in 2019

On October 3rd, ESMA published a public consultation on MAR, intended to get market participants’ views on a number of possible changes to the provisions of MAR. The scope of the changes is very wide ranging, and includes a possible extension of MAR to cover spot FX contracts, establishing EU

The decision to delegate SFT reporting has its appeal for many buy-side firms, especially those who have successfully delegated their EMIR reporting in the past. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is probably their prevailing view. The decision to continue with delegated reporting may be reinforced by the perception

On 31st October 2019, ESMA published further technical details of the XML Schemas for the reporting of Securities Financing Transactions (SFTs) as required under the SFT Regulation (SFTR). Under ESMA’s mandated use of ISO 20022 in SFT reporting, these Schemas must be approved by ISO’s Evaluation Team. Unfortunately, there has

The Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR)1 is an EU regulation set out to increase the transparency of securities financing transactions and the reuse of collateral. The regulation covers two aspects of transparency. The first, which this article focuses on, is the reporting obligation for SFTs that have been concluded, modified,

Starting with banks and investment firms, SFT Reporting starts in April 2020; non-financials have another 9 months. Between now and then, some medium-sized market participants will need to decide if they want to continue with delegated reporting or move over to direct reporting. There are merits to both approaches. For

On October 3rd, ESMA published a public consultation on MAR, intended to get market participants’ views on a number of possible changes to the provisions of MAR. The scope of the changes is very wide ranging, and includes a possible extension of MAR to cover spot FX contracts, establishing EU

On 22nd March 2019, the EU published the SFTR implementing regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union. Publication confirms the start-dates of transaction reporting for investment and non-financial companies. Data managers have a number of technical hurdles to surmount, so adequate planning is crucial. In the third of