Published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 7 December 2021 the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2153 supplementing Directive (EU) 2019/2034 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards specifying the criteria for subjecting certain investment firms to the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013.

Given the systemic relevance of investment firms’ activities, as referred to in Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2019/2034, and the potential significant impact of a contagion effect across the financial sector, investment firms that are clearing members as defined in Article 4(1)(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 and that offer clearing services to other financial institutions, which are not clearing members themselves, should be considered for the purposes of Article 5(1)(b) of Directive (EU) 2019/2034.

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 8 December 2021 the Directive (EU) 2021/2167  on credit servicers and credit purchasers and amending Directives 2008/48/EC on credit agreements for consumers and 2014/17/EU on credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property.

The Directive establishes a common framework and requirements for:

  • credit managers who manage the creditor’s rights arising from an impaired credit agreement or the impaired credit agreement itself, issued by a credit institution established in the European Union, acting on behalf of a credit buyer;
  • credit buyers acquiring the creditor’s rights under an impaired credit agreement or the impaired credit agreement itself, issued by a credit institution established in the European Union.

Member States shall adopt and publish, by 29 December 2023 at the latest, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 9 December 2021 the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and for determining whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives.

The criteria for technical screening shall take the form of a quantitative threshold or minimum requirement, a relative improvement, a set of qualitative performance requirements, process or practice-based requirements or a precise description of the nature of the economic activity where it can substantially contribute to climate change mitigation by virtue of its nature.
The Delegated Regulation shall apply from 1 January 2022.

EBA has launched a consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the information that crowdfunding service providers shall provide to investors.

The proposed requirements cover the method used for the calculation of credit scores and loan prices, the factors that the providers need to consider when carrying out a credit risk assessment and conducting a valuation of a loan, and the underlying policies and governance arrangements.

The consultation runs until 8 March 2022.

EBA has published a Report on the application of its Guidelines on the remuneration of sales staff in force since 2016.

The EBA’s assessment revealed that financial institutions focus more on prudential requirements and commercial interests than on meeting the interests of consumers.

However, the EBA also identified good practices that are considered to be compliant with the Guidelines.