REGULATORY CLIENT UPDATE / APRIL 2022
Highlights:
The European Commission has announced that is has adopted the regulatory technical standards to be used by financial market participants when disclosing sustainability-related information under SFDR. The RTS will now be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council.
Luxembourg Market Update:
Sanctions against Russia will have only a limited impact on Luxembourg's financial sector, according to CSSF CEO Claude Marx, who notes that at €4bn Russian assets represent just 1% of the total held by the fund sector. He says Russian banks established in Luxembourg will not be targeted by sanctions, but the regulator will carry out checks over the coming days to ensure that supervised banks are complying with the measures. While the financial industry has not been subject to any cyber-attacks attributed to the conflict in Ukraine, Marx acknowledges that they pose a significant threat to the sector.
Regulatory Developments in and beyond Luxembourg:
21 February 2022: FAQ on CBDF – Notifications procedures
The CSSF has updated its FAQ on cross-border distribution notifications procedures which contains information on the CBDF Regulation highlighting the changes for notifications to the CSSF.
11 March 2022: Circular CSSF 22/801 – FATF statements
The purpose of the Circular (in French) is to inform all the persons supervised by the CSSF about the decisions taken by the FATF with respect to high-risk jurisdictions on which enhanced due diligence and, where appropriate, counter-measures are imposed and jurisdictions under increased monitoring of the FATF.
14 March 2022: FinDatEx issues the EET Version 1 and EMT Version 4.0
FinDatEx has published the first version of the European ESG Template (EET) as well as the fourth version of the European MiFID Template (EMT).
The EET serves to facilitate the data exchange between product manufacturers and distributors for the purpose of fulfilling ESG-related regulatory requirements contained in the SFDR, relevant provisions of the Taxonomy Regulation and delegated acts complementing MiFID II. It will be used on a voluntary basis and is free of charge. FinDatEx recommends to have the EET ready for distributors by 1 June 2022. FinDatEx intends to regularly review the template depending on the evolving regulation, at least annually. With regard to the MiFID target market, the EET interacts with the EMT V4.
30 March 2022: Circular CSSF 21/769 on teleworking will apply as from 1 July 2022
The CSSF announced that Circular CSSF 21/769 on teleworking issued on 9 April 2021 will apply as of 1 July 2022. The circular defines the governance and security requirements for supervised entities that should be complied with when implementing and using work processes based on telework solutions. The circular will be reviewed at the latest 12 months after its entry into force, i.e. by 30 June 2023, in order to address potential abuses or any other shortcomings or deficiencies.
31 March 2022: Reports foreseen by Circular CSSF 21/790 now available on eDesk
The CSSF informs that the reports introduced by Circular CSSF 21/790, namely the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), the separate report (SR) and the management letter (ML), which are applicable to regulated UCIs are available in the CISERO module on the CSSF eDesk platform. At first, the SAQ, the SR (only for UCITS and UCIs Part II) and the ML for the regulated UCIs with a financial year ending between 30 June 2022 and 30 November 2022 are available in the module. Further information on the availability of the reports for the subsequent financial year-ends will be given in due time by means of a dedicated FAQ.
31 March 2022: Ukraine crisis: FAQ on the application of Liquidity Management Tools by investment funds
In the context of the impact of the Ukraine crisis on financial markets, investment fund managers (IFMs) are currently facing the challenge of how to deal with Russian and Belarussian assets in their managed investment funds that have become illiquid/ non-tradeable as a consequence of this crisis as well as due to the restrictive measures taken by the EU and other countries in this context. The CSSF received questions from market participants regarding temporary as well as more structural measures for the situation, including the usage of Liquidity Management Tools (LMTs) by investment funds as well as the valuation of the affected assets. The CSSF hereby would like to provide additional information and clarification, taking into account also the previously published FAQs on swing pricing and COVID-19.
31 March 2022: ESMA final report on MiFID remuneration guidelines
ESMA has published its final report on MiFID remuneration guidelines. The purpose of these guidelines is to enhance clarity and foster convergence in the implementation of the new MiFID II remuneration requirements. ESMA believes that the implementation of these guidelines will strengthen investor protection.
1 April 2022: CSSF issues a Communiqué on the updated ESAs supervisory statement on SFDR and Taxonomy
Further to the publication of the ESA’s updated supervisory statement SFDR, the CSSF has issued a Communiqué. The CSSF encourages financial market participants and financial advisers to use the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on sustainability-related disclosures under SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation in the interim period until RTS are adopted by the European Commission.
6 April 2022: EU Commission adopts RTS under the SFDR
The European Commission has announced that is has adopted the regulatory technical standards to be used by financial market participants when disclosing sustainability-related information under SFDR. The RTS will now be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council. When the final text is agreed, the RTS will be published in the Official Journal of the EU. The date of application of the RTS has been subject to numerous delays. The adopted RTS state that they are scheduled to apply from 1 January 2023, but their application date will not be definitive until confirmed by the European Parliament and the Council. The current expectation is that 1 January 2023 will be the effective date.
For further information, please contact:
Tobias Ettlin
m: +352 691 111 931
Disclaimer: This regulatory update has been prepared for clients of ONE group solutions and its subsidiaries for informational purposes and is not intended to be relied upon as professional advice. Please visit: https://www.one-gs.com/
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