The European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA")has recently published a Consultation Paper on Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR").
This Consultation Paper provides a number of proposals which are of interest particularly for issuers of financial instruments admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue, investment firms and asset management companies. These proposals include the following:
Possibility of extending the scope of MAR to spot foreign exchange contracts;Delaying mechanism for the disclosure of inside information;Usefulness and content of the insiders list;Appropriateness of the trading prohibition and insider lists for persons discharging managerial responsibilities; andCross border enforcement of sanctions.
In this regard, ESMA invites stakeholders to provide their feedback on the consultation by the 29th November 2019.
In a similar vein, we would also like to refer to two other Consultation Papers issued by ESMA and for which the consultation period will soon expire;
Consultation on Guidelines on certain aspects of Directive 2014/65/EU ("MiFID II") compliance function requirements
This Consultation relates to aspects of the compliance function requirements under MiFID II including the compliance risk assessment, compliance function monitoring and reporting obligations as well as expertise, permanence and independence of the compliance function. All interest stakeholders are invited to submit their feedback by the 15th October 2019; and
Consultation on Guidelines on performance fees in Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities ("UCITS"). This Consultation covers aspects relating to calculation of performance fees of UCITS, including consistency between the performance fee model and fund’s investment objectives, frequency for the crystallisation of the performance fee and disclosure of the performance fee model. All interest stakeholders are invited to submit their feedback by the 31st of October 2019.
Feel free to contact us if you require any further information on the above-mentioned Consultation Papers.
