On 4 December 2015, the final compromise text of the EU benchmark regulation was released. The text already received approval from the Council and the European Parliament on 24 November 2015, and from the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) on 9 December 2015. The next step is to submit the regulation to the European Parliament for […]

Those despairing of European regulatory timelines may take small comfort in today’s Council announcement that the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) will enter into force as expected on 1 January 2016. The SRF is a vital element in the wider Single Resolution Mechanism, creating a Europe-wide backstop fund that may be accessed following a failing institution’s […]

On 27 November 2015, the EU Council published a revised text of the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).  This follows its publication on 5 November 2015 of the ‘final’ SFTR – as subsequently adopted by the EU Council on 16 November 2015. Fortunately, all of the changes in the revised text – of which there […]

ESMA have published an internal note dated 2 October 2015 outlining the necessity for and certainty of delay in a number of core MiFID 2 provisions, the likely extent of such delay and the various means of effecting it. The note refers to the sequential nature of MiFID 2 implementation, the complexity of certain interdependent […]

In a press release, the EU Council has today confirmed that it has adopted the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).  This follows the adoption by the EU Parliament which took place on 29 October.  See this blog post for more detail on the SFTR itself. This represents the final stage of the legislative process for […]

As promised, ESMA has published final draft MiFID II/MiFIR  regulatory and implementing technical standards. In case regulatory teams weren’t already reeling from the 552 pages of the MiFID II RTS, ESMA also published technical standards for  MiFID II interdependent MAD/MAR and CSDR, making a total of 2505 pages of which every word will be pored […]

Speaking at yesterday’s ISDA Europe conference, ESMA chief Steven Maijoor quelled widespread doubt that MiFIDII/MiFIR final draft RTS would be published on time, “I am very determined to make sure that we deliver in the month of September. We cannot predict how board meetings go but most of the work on MiFIDII/MiFIR in terms of […]

The EC has launched a public consultation to help determine the exact shape of the SRM’s bank levy. The 28 transitional national resolution funds established by the BRRD[1] will be replaced by the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) as of 1 January 2016. SRF “taxes” will be dependent on the size and risk pro-file of each […]

Signalling the next step in the protracted implementation of MiFID II/ MiFIR, the European Commission has published its request to the EBA (dated 16th May) for technical advice regarding intervention powers for structured deposits. This follows a 23rd April Mandate to ESMA for technical advice, as summarised in our earlier blog post. As MiFIR establishes a […]