ESMA has scheduled a hearing on the proposed Guidelines for supervisory reporting on derivatives under Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (EMIR) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/834 (EMIR Refit).

During the hearing, the following topics will be discussed:

  • how reports should be constructed and under what circumstances reports should be made;
  • reporting logics;
  • reporting under delegation as well as under the provisions on the allocation of reporting responsibility;
  • the population of specific field sections;
  • the correct population of fields for different reporting scenarios and different products;
  • the procedures to be implemented by reporting entities and Trade Repositories to improve data quality;
  • operational aspects related to data access.

The hearing is scheduled for 20 September 2021.

EBA has published its annual update on EU banks’ funding plans, which helps EU supervisors assess the sustainability of banks’ main sources of funding.

The results of the funding plans assessment show the impact the pandemic had on EU banks’ funding composition. The plans point to a gradual ‘normalisation’ of banks’ sources of funding over the next three years. This implies in particular a partial replacement of central bank funding with market-based funding.

The European Payments Council (EPC) has published an interview with the Director General of Infrastructure and Market Payments of the European Central Bank on the digital Euro project.

In particular, the DG highlighted how, in this historical period, an accelerated trend towards new payment methods and means can be observed.

According to the DG, the ECB’s objective is to support the digitalisation of the European economy while maintaining an efficient, safe and sound payment ecosystem and an independent European Union. With this in mind, the Eurosystem’s retail payment strategy was launched and a two-year investigation phase on a digital euro was initiated. The two are linked and should ultimately ensure that businesses and citizens in Europe are offered fully digital payment solutions and means of payment that can be used anywhere and anytime.

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 September 2021 Decision (EU) 2021/1437 of the European Central Bank of 3 August 2021 amending Decision (EU) 2017/934 on the delegation of decisions on the significance of supervised entities.

The Decision specifies the criteria for the delegation of decision-making powers to the Heads of Business Areas of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the adoption of decisions on the materiality of supervised entities.

In particular, the Decision provides clarification in relation to amendments to materiality decisions where the Heads of Business Areas have doubts as to the interconnectedness of such a decision with one or more other decisions requiring supervisory approval. This may be the case where the outcome of the relevant supervisory assessment directly impacts one or more of those other decisions and therefore the decisions should be considered simultaneously by the same decision-maker in order to prevent conflicting outcomes.

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 6 September a series of decisions of the European Central Bank on the delegation of powers to the Heads of Business Areas designated by the Executive Board.

The decisions adopted and published are:     Decision (UE) 2021/1440 of the European Central Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today announced their plan to engage in a collaboration to accelerate action on climate change adaptation.

The EIB and GCA have identified various focus areas of collaboration:

  • Financing adaptation solutions, supporting knowledge,
  • tools and capacity-building on adaptation and
  • sharing best practices and data.

The aim of the collaboration is to provide funding for projects including infrastructure resilience, youth empowerment through jobs and entrepreneurship and climate smart digital technologies for agriculture and food security.