As reported in the August 19, 2011 edition of Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest, France, Belgium, Spain and Italy imposed short selling bans in relation to certain banking and financial institutions in August 2011.

On February 13 and 15, the French (AMF), Belgian (FSMA) and Spanish (CNMV) financial markets regulators announced the end of their respective bans on establishing or increasing net short positions in relation to certain banking and financial services issuers. The applicable French, Belgian and Spanish net short position disclosure regimes continue to be in force, as do prohibitions on naked short selling.

The AMF, FSMA and CNMV have each made clear that they will continue to monitor market developments and will re-impose restrictions on short selling if they deem it necessary.

The equivalent Italian ban remains in force for the present. It is currently scheduled to expire on February 24, 2012. As with the other three jurisdictions, Italy’s net short position reporting requirements, as well as a ban on naked short selling of Italian stocks, remain in force indefinitely.

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