The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA ed ESMA) issued their first joint risk assessment report of 2021.
The report highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh heavily on short-term recovery prospects. It also highlights a number of vulnerabilities in the financial markets and warns of possible further market corrections. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the ESAs advise national competent authorities, financial institutions and market participants to take the following policy actions:
- Prepare for an expected deterioration of asset quality;
- Continue to develop further actions to accommodate a “low-for-long” interest rate environment and its risks;
- Ensure sound lending practices and adequate pricing of risks; and
- Investment funds should further enhance their preparedness in the face of potential increases in redemptions and valuation shocks.
The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA ed ESMA) published a Report on the application of their Guidelines on complaints-handling.
The Report concludes that the Guidelines have contributed to a consistent approach to complaints-handling across the banking, insurance and securities sectors and have resulted in better outcomes for consumers.
This Report examines how the ESAs Guidelines on complaints-handling have been applied since they came into force by using input provided by 44 national competent authorities (NCAs) from 29 countries. The Report concludes that the Guidelines have contributed to a consistent approach to complaints-handling across the banking, insurance and securities sectors and have resulted in better outcomes for consumers. Against this background, the ESAs are of the view that there is no need for revising the Guidelines at this stage.
The updated Trade Repository (TR) Q&A 51 provides further clarifications on two aspects related to intragroup transactions (IGT) reporting exemption:
- Reporting of details of derivatives when the IGT reporting exemption ceases to be valid; and
- Location of parent undertaking for purposes of the IGT reporting exemption. The answer to this question is provided by the European Commission in accordance with Article 16b(5) of the ESMA Regulation.
ESMA has updated its Q&A on the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR).
The revised ESMA Regulation (Article 16b(5)) specifies that ESMA transfers queries which interpret Union law to the European Commission (EC). The latest Q&As on the CSDR contain answers provided by the EC that relate to:
- The provision of CSD services in other Member States: (i) Article 23 of CSDR applies to all types of financial instruments, as defined under MIFID II, whether or not admitted to trading, or traded, on trading venues; (ii) for the purpose of Article 23(2) of CSDR, the “law under which the securities are constituted” should by default be the standard law of the issuance of the securities and/or, if determined by the issuer, the national law of the issuer; and
- The exemption from the application of cash penalties and the buy-in requirements for settlement fails relating to transactions involving CCPs: only settlement fails relating to transactions for which a CCP interposes itself between the counterparties (i.e. transactions cleared by the concerned CCP) should be captured by the exemption under Article 7(11) of CSDR.
ESMA has updated its Q&As on the Prospectus Regulation with four new Q&As.
The Q&As provide clarification on the following aspects:
- The application of the exemption in Article 1(5)(b) PR in a situation concerning non-transferable securities;
- The application of the PR where shares can be exchanged for global depositary receipts (and vice versa);
- Dissemination of amended advertisements; and
- The status of transferable securities.
The published Q&As were updated in line with the revised legal acts, and the outcome has been reflected in the Q&A tool.
The draft RTS put forward comparable disclosures that should help stakeholders understand investment firms’ influence over the companies in which they have voting rights and the impact of investment firms’ policies on aspects such as the governance or management of those companies.
The draft 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.
These disclosure requirements apply to class 2 investment firms with total assets above EUR 100 million.
EBA published today its Risk Dashboard for the last quarter of 2020.
The data show a rise in capital ratios, a contraction of the NPL ratio and a return on equity (RoE) significantly below banks’ cost of equity. Besides asset quality and profitability, operational risks remain a key concern going forward.
The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has published an in-depth study on the importance of banks’ adoption of new IT and Fintech systems for crisis management.
In particular, the ESRB underlines how the adoption of advanced IT and Fintech systems before the crisis led to 10% fewer non-performing loans during the global financial crisis. This is related to the fact that the adoption of these systems resulted in better performing loans, discarding inadequately secured loans upstream. For this study, data on the adopted systems of US banks were used.
(only in Italian)
L’Unità di Informazione Finanziaria per l’Italia (UIF) ha pubblicato l’aggiornamento del proprio manuale in materia di comunicazioni oggettive.
Le comunicazioni oggettive devono contenere i dati relativi alle operazioni in contante di importo pari o superiore a 10.000 Euro eseguite nel corso del mese solare a valere su rapporti ovvero mediante operazioni occasionali, anche se realizzate attraverso più operazioni singolarmente pari o superiori a 1.000 Euro. Le operazioni dovranno essere individuate considerando tutte le movimentazioni di denaro effettuate dal medesimo soggetto, in qualità di cliente o di esecutore; le operazioni effettuate dall’esecutore sono imputate anche al cliente in nome e per conto del quale ha operato.
(only in Italian)
L’OIC ha pubblicato il documento interpretativo n. 7 “Legge 13 ottobre 2020, n. 126 Aspetti contabili della rivalutazione dei beni d’impresa e delle partecipazioni”.
Questo documento analizza sotto il profilo tecnico contabile le norme della legge di rivalutazione 2020 (art. 110 commi 1-7 del Decreto Legge 14 agosto 2020 n.104 convertito con modificazione dalla Legge 13 ottobre 2020, n.126 di seguito anche “legge 126/2020”).
La disciplina della rivalutazione è facoltativa e opera in deroga alle disposizioni dell’art. 2426 c.c. (criteri di valutazione) e di ogni altra disposizione di legge vigente in materia di bilancio. Il documento si applica alle società che redigono il bilancio d’esercizio in base alle disposizioni del codice civile.
