ESMA has updated the following Questions and Answers:

• EMIR implementation
• SFTR data reporting
• MiFID II and MiFIR transparency topics

ESMA has published an Opinion on how access to and use of credit ratings can be improved in the EU.
In the Opinion ESMA highlights the difficulties experienced by users of credit ratings.
Credit ratings are published on Credit Rating Agencies’ (CRAs’) websites as well as on the European Rating Platform (ERP). However, the usability of these credit ratings is severely limited as they cannot be accessed in a machine-readable format or downloaded in sufficient numbers to be used for regulatory purposes. In practice, users mainly access and use credit ratings and related research reports through licences for data feeds and platform services offered by other companies in CRAs’ groups. These companies are not currently subject to regulation and their licencing practices and the high fees charged raise both investor protection and competitiveness concerns. Users of credit ratings have reported that the terms of the licence agreements they must enter into to use credit ratings are subject to frequent changes and that they often need to enter into additional licences in order to maintain a consistent level of data usage over time. Users also report an inability to negotiate the terms of access to data feeds and a lack of transparency in price increases.
ESMA concludes that legislative changes are needed to improve access to and use of credit ratings and highlights that these could be implemented through changes to the CRA Regulation or through the adoption of alternative legislation.

EIOPA has published a paper on the implementation of the transition from IBOR.
The Authority will implement the updated methodology for calculating risk-free interest rates from January 2022 for the British Pound, Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen.
In order to ensure a smooth transition, EIOPA will support market participants with targeted publications for three consecutive months prior to the transition date.

EIOPA published its approach for the implementation of Interbank Offered Rates (IBOR) transitions including with regards to timing and implementation.
EIOPA will implement the updated methodology for the calculation of the risk-free interest rates as of January 2022 for the British pound, Swiss franc and Japanese yen. In particular, the following changes will be implemented:
– GBP LIBOR curve will change to SONIA curve; the Last Liquid Point (LLP) will change from 50 to 30 years
– CHF LIBOR curve will change to government bond curve; LLP will change from 25 to 15 years
– JPY LIBOR curve will change to government bond curve and the LLP will remain unchanged at 30 years
The impact of the transition of the British pound, Swiss franc and Japanese yen was estimated to be negligible for undertakings from the European Economic Area.

(Only in Italian)
Banca d’Italia, Consob e IVASS, a seguito dell’entrata in vigore del decreto del MEF 30 aprile 2021, n. 100 che disciplina le modalità di svolgimento della sperimentazione in Italia di attività di tecno-finanza (FinTech), hanno stabilito che la prima finestra temporale per la presentazione delle richieste di ammissione alla sandbox regolamentare sarà aperta dal 15 novembre 2021 al 15 gennaio 2022.
 La sandbox consentirà di sperimentare soluzioni innovative, potendo beneficiare di un regime semplificato transitorio e in costante dialogo con le Autorità di settore.

Bank of Italy publishes ‘From SMP to PEPP: a further look at the risk endogeneity of the Central Bank’, the new issue of the series ‘Markets, infrastructures, payment systems’.

(Only in Italian)
Banca d’Italia ha comunicato i dati utili per la determinazione dei tassi di riferimento relativamente alle operazioni di credito agevolato da stipularsi nel mese di ottobre 2021, ed in particolare:

• per quanto riguarda il rendimento medio ponderato riferito all’anno commerciale dei BOT a sei mesi e a dodici mesi, relativo al mese di settembre 2021, il valore da considerare è pari a -0,505;
• per quanto riguarda la media mensile dei rendimenti lordi dei titoli pubblici soggetti a tassazione, relativa al mese di agosto 2021, il valore da considerare è pari a 0,261.

(Only in Italian)
L’IVASS ha pubblicato un approfondimento in merito alle relazioni tra banche e assicurazioni in Italia.
L’approfondimento documenta la rilevanza della bancassurance in Italia in termini sia di accordi commerciali per la distribuzione di prodotti assicurativi attraverso la rete degli sportelli bancari sia di partecipazione delle banche nel capitale delle assicurazioni.
L’IVASS evidenzia che per le banche di maggiore dimensione la propensione a operare nel settore assicurativo è correlata positivamente con la loro redditività e diviene più accentuata con l’aumentare del livello di controllo esercitato dalla banca sulla compagnia. Per le assicurazioni la distribuzione dei prodotti attraverso gli sportelli bancari è associata a una riduzione dei costi operativi nei rami vita e degli oneri per sinistri in quelli danni.