Simmons & Simmons’ Post

Will be so interesting to see how much the UK prospectus regime diverges from the EU regime over time now that we have a change of government....and if equivalence/passporting between the UK and the EU is re-considered.

When Propellant Digital applied the newly-proposed EU transparency rules to the 2024 YTD trade reports, we found that 94% of transactions in corporate bonds will be published in 15 minutes or less, comprising almost 50% of volumes. Do you want to learn more about these findings and how the MiFIR transparency rules will affect your trading strategies in 2025? Join our webinar on Friday, 12 July 2024, from 11 AM - 12 PM (London time) to discuss the important European bond transparency changes with our Head of EMEA Product, Oliver Haste. Don't miss out on this chance to gain valuable insights. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/efzRT57Q #PropellantDigital #ActionableInsights #FixedIncome #FinancialMarkets #MiFIR

📢 New #ESMA Guidance Proposal: Elevating Standards for Best Execution In a pivotal move to enhance investor protection, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation aimed at setting higher standards for investment firms in their trade execution policies. 🔍 Key Highlights: 📜 Proposed Guidance: Aims to refine how firms develop and assess their order execution policies, ensuring adherence to best execution practices. 📊 Best Execution Rules: Current rules mandate firms to take “sufficient steps” to secure the #bestexecution for clients, considering factors like price, cost, speed, and trade size. For retail clients, this includes total costs (price and execution costs), covering all expenses such as execution venue fees and settlement fees. 📉 #Regulatory Findings: Compliance reviews revealed shortcomings in firms' implementation of best execution policies, with inadequate venue analysis, poor demonstration of policy adherence, and generic disclosures. 🛠️ Proposed Improvements: - Enhance firms' selection of trading venues in a fragmented #trading environment. - Provide detailed technical guidance on meeting best execution obligations. - Outline firms' disclosure obligations and the need for client consent, especially for off-exchange trades. - Set expectations for continuous monitoring and evaluation of best execution policies. 🗓️ #Consultation Period: Open until October 16. This initiative underscores ESMA’s commitment to ensuring investors receive optimal execution quality and transparency. We encourage all stakeholders to participate and share their insights during the consultation period.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched its position paper today (link below) on European capital markets. There's much in there to support and even if quite a lot of the recommendations will rely on a supportive Commission, EP, and Council if they are to be realised, it's no bad thing to have the Single Market's securities supervisors taking the initiative to share their experience on how we can make EU capital markets work better for a wider range of stakeholders. At the launch event I was struck by how supportive Verena Ross was of engaging EU retail investors in these markets: "We need to reassure people that capital markets can serve their investment needs and allow them to benefit from wealth created through these markets". My one (minor) doubt from the comments at the launch event and from reading the paper is whether ESMA is placing too much emphasis on funds and other intermediated products as the route into capital markets for European retail investors. Funds have many benefits and many investors appreciate being able to access the expertise in, say, portfolio construction or risk management that an experienced manager can bring. But those benefits don't come for free and there's merit in giving investors choice in how they access the capital markets. A lot of progress has been made with the EU Listing Act in opening up direct access, but as ESMA advises the incoming Commissioner on the priorities for the next mandate I hope that diversification of, and choice over, routes into capital markets will be part of the story they tell. https://lnkd.in/e8hRJvy5

Big step forward for EU capital markets! 🚀 Today, the Council approved the Parliament's first reading position on the EU Listing Act, marking the official adoption of this key legislative package which includes: - a Regulation amending the Prospectus Regulation, Market Abuse Regulation, and MiFIR; - a Directive amending MiFID II; and - a directive on multi-vote share structures. Once published in the Official Journal of the EU, the measures will come into effect in 20 days. Member states will have 18 months to transpose the MiFID II amendment and two years for the multi-vote shares Directive.  detailed analysis of the amendments introduced by the Listing Act Regulation to the Prospectus Regulation will be available in my forthcoming book, Regulating Primary Markets in the Capital Markets Union: Between Uniformity and Differentiation, published by Hart Publishing: https://lnkd.in/d_WMmN4n. 💼 #EUlaw #CapitalMarkets #CapitalMarketsUnion #Finance #Regulation

📢 On 14 November 2024, the Listing Act was published in the EU’s Official Journal, introducing measures to improve the accessibility and efficiency of EU public markets, both for equity and debt issuers. This reform aims to streamline processes and enhance transparency, shaping the role of public markets as vital platforms for sustainable finance and economic growth in the EU. The measures will be implemented gradually, with a first set of rules – of which the most relevant are listed below – applicable as from 4 December 2024. ▪️ New offer & admission prospectus exemptions facilitating the issuance of fungible securities, including an increased threshold for existing securities from 20% to 30%. ▪️ Incorporation by reference of future financial statements. ▪️ Changes to risk factors materiality ordering & prohibition of generic risk factors. ▪️ Simplified equivalence regime for third country prospectuses. ▪️ Requirement for paper copies of prospectuses is removed. ▪️ Changes to MAR relating to market sounding, buyback, and PDMR transaction reporting. 👉 For more details, please check our website: https://lnkd.in/e5vgi79P #CapitalMarketsUnion #ListingAct

Honored to attend and participate in another global event put together by BCR Publishing today in London. The second annual Trade and Investment Forum, hosted by BCR in partnership with ITFA, will discuss how the sector is currently interacting with investors, whether the Electronic Trade Documents Act, passed last year, has succeeded in becoming a catalyst for trade finance turning into a desirable asset class, how modern technology has become a transformative tool for institutional and private investors’ perception of trade finance. In addition, it will also look at the latest and future initiatives aimed at closing the trade finance gap by establishing a much wider market for trade assets.

✏️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗨 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴! This significant package of measures, introduced as part of the EU's Capital Markets Union 2020 action plan, aims to make public markets more attractive for EU companies and to facilitate access to capital for SMEs. The EU Listing Act aims to achieve this by easing the requirements for companies making public offers or seeking listings on public stock exchanges, while still ensuring transparency, investor protection, and market integrity. The latest EU Listing Act legislative package includes: ▪️Regulation (EU) 2024/2809 which amends the Prospectus Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (EU) 600/2014; ▪️Directive (EU) 2024/2811 which amends Directive 2014/65/EU and repeals ▪️Directive 2001/34/EC on the admission of securities to official stock exchange listing and on information to be published on those securities ; and Directive (EU) 2024/2810 on multiple-vote share structures in companies that seek the admission to trading of their shares on a multilateral trading facility (MTF). The above were published in the Official Journal on November 14, 2024 and the first set of rules entered into force on December 4, 2024. Find out more: 👉 https://lnkd.in/d9BeaGDy #EUListingAct #CapitalMarkets #MarketAbuseRegulation #Luxembourg #AOShearman

On 24 April 2024 #ESMA published an Opinion on amendments to the European long-term investment fund (#ELTIF) Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS). In the Opinion ESMA suggests that there should be a limited number of changes to find the right balance between protecting retail investors and contributing to the capital market union objectives. The Opinion has been communicated by ESMA to the European Commission, with copies to the European Parliament and the Council. The European Commission may adopt the RTS with the amendments it considers relevant or reject it. #ELTIF #RTS #retail https://lnkd.in/e2ciWXzM

The IACPM and a consortium of trade associations welcome the European Commission's review of the EU Securitisation Framework. The associations support the efforts of the European Commission to review and address holistically the different elements of the Framework, which hinder market growth. Targeted reforms are critical to unlocking securitisation’s potential to strengthen capital markets, drive growth, and enhance EU competitiveness. The full press release is available on our website: https://lnkd.in/eYJngPGb