On 9 March 2023, the Luxembourg Parliament adopted the Blockchain III Law. The Blockchain III Law – which was published on 17 March 2023 – amends, amongst others, the Financial Sector Law2 and the Financial Collateral Law....more
The Luxembourg government published bill of law n°8183 (the “Bill”) on 24 March 2023 that amends five existing laws on alternative investment funds (“AIFs”) and alternative investment fund managers (“AIFMs”), namely the UCI...more
3/28/2023
/ AIFM ,
AIFs ,
Annual Reports ,
Companies Act ,
CSSF ,
ELTIF ,
Liquidation ,
Luxembourg ,
New Legislation ,
Reserved Alternative Investment Funds (RAIF) ,
Shareholders ,
SICARs ,
UCIs ,
UCITS
AMF: Articles 8 and 9 SFDR should set minimum environmental standards for financial products -
On 10 February 2023 the French regulator (Autorité des Marchés Financiers (“AMF”)) published its proposals as to changes it...more
This OnPoint summarizes the panel discussion at Dechert’s annual investment funds conference that took place in Luxembourg in the last quarter of 2022. At the conference, we discussed the Regulation on the Markets of Crypto...more
1/27/2023
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Ledger Technology ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Parliament ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
FinCEN ,
FSOC ,
Howey ,
Investment Funds ,
MiFID ,
Prospectus Regulation (PR3) ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
On 25 January 2023, the FCA published its key findings on the state of implementation of firms’ plans to embed the new Consumer Duty within their businesses. The Consumer Duty will apply from 31 July 2023 in relation to new...more
Since Regulation (EU) 2015/760 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on European long term investment funds (ELTIF Regulation) was adopted, only a few European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) have...more
1/18/2023
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Borrowing Statutes ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
ELTIF ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
FinTech ,
Fund of Funds ,
Long-Term Investment Funds ,
Private Funds ,
Reserved Alternative Investment Funds (RAIF) ,
Retail Investors ,
Suitability Requirements ,
UCITS
On 9 December 2022, in Edinburgh, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a set of reforms that are intended to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector (the Edinburgh Reforms or the Reforms)....more
12/20/2022
/ Capital Markets ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FSMA ,
Long-Term Investment Funds ,
MiFID ,
Packaged Retail And Insurance-Based Investment Products (PRIIPS) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Scotland ,
Short Selling ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK ,
Value-Added Tax (VAT)
On 2 December 2022, Luxembourg’s supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) published an FAQ that seeks to clarify certain items under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation...more
12/20/2022
/ Alternative Investment Funds ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
CSSF ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Luxembourg ,
Proposed Guidance ,
SFDR ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UCITS ,
Websites
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1288, setting out the regulatory technical standards (RTS) to be used by financial market participants (FMPs) when disclosing sustainability-related information under the Sustainable...more
12/14/2022
/ Adverse Impact ,
Climate Change ,
Commission Delegated Regulation ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
EU Benchmark Regulation ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Products ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment ,
Regulation Technical Standards (RTS) ,
Reputational Injury ,
SFDR ,
Short Selling ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Taxonomy
After some delay, the United Kingdom’s financial services regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has published Consultation Paper CP 22/20 (Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (“SDR”) and investment labels)...more
11/18/2022
/ AIFM ,
Alternative Investment Funds ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Distributors ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment ,
Labeling ,
Marketing ,
Retail Investors ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
UCITS ,
UK
The German Financial Regulator, ("BaFin"), published guidance ("Guidance") on 5 September 2022, that provides some further clarity on various questions on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation ("SFDR"). BaFin has...more
10/5/2022
/ BaFin ,
Data Collection ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
European Commission ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Products ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Germany ,
MiFID ,
New Guidance ,
SFDR ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Taxonomy
The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the Luxembourg financial services regulator, on 27 July 2022 issued a communication to the investment fund industry reminding it of the deadline of 1 January 2023...more
This latest edition of the regulatory initiatives paper sets out at a high level the core regulatory issues that are likely to impact private fund managers in the coming months, including an overview of the key actions needed...more
9/22/2022
/ Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) ,
AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beneficial Owner ,
CFTC ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Commission Delegated Regulation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptoassets ,
Custody Rule ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
ELTIF ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EONIA ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Act ,
Form PF ,
FSOC ,
Fund Managers ,
Hedge Funds ,
Hong Kong ,
ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) ,
Investors ,
Libor ,
MiFID ,
MiFID II ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulatory Standards ,
REIT ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Russia ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
SFDR ,
Supply Chain ,
Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) ,
UCITS ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Ukraine
On 20 July 2022, just over 18 months after the end of the transition period that marked the UK’s full departure from the EU, HM Treasury laid the Financial Services and Markets Bill 2022-2023 (the Bill) before Parliament for...more
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1288, setting out the regulatory technical standards (RTS) to be used by financial market participants (FMPs) when disclosing sustainability-related information under the Sustainable...more
On 30 June 2022, the European Council (Council) and the European Parliament (Parliament), announced that they had reached a provisional agreement on the proposal for regulation on markets in cryptoassets (MiCA), which covers...more
7/15/2022
/ Asset Management ,
Blockchain ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptoassets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Investor Protection ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Stablecoins ,
Token Sales
A brief recap – ESAs’ January 2021 letter to the EU Commission, EU Commission response and adoption of RTS
Signed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on 27 November 2019 and published in the...more
Summary -
On 6 April 2022, the European Commission announced that is has adopted the regulatory technical standards to be used by financial market participants when disclosing sustainability-related information under the...more
4/8/2022
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Market Participants ,
New Regulations ,
RTS ,
SFDR ,
Sustainable Finance
As set out in our earlier OnPoint, “Is Brexit Green?”, the UK has adopted a different approach to regulating ESG in the asset management sector compared to the EU by not “on-shoring” the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure...more
4/4/2022
/ Asset Management ,
Climate Change ,
Consultation Papers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Management ,
Policy Statement ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
SFDR ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
UK
ESMA published on February 2, 2022, a supervisory briefing (ESMA35-43-2900) setting out its expectations under the MiFID II framework for firms that use tied agents (the Briefing). ...more
In a letter dated 25 November 2021, the European Commission’s Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (the Director-General) confirmed that the date of application of the...more
On 25 November 2021, the European Commission (the Commission) adopted a package of measures aimed to deliver on several key commitments in the 2020 Capital Markets Union (CMU) action plan. The package includes four...more
11/30/2021
/ AIFM ,
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Capital Markets ,
Capital Markets Union ,
ELTIF ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Investment Funds ,
MiFIR ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
UCITS
The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) empowered the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) to develop draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on taxonomy-related product disclosures. On 15 March 2021, the...more
As set out in our earlier OnPoint “Is Brexit Green?”1, the UK has adopted a different approach to ESG compared to the EU, by not “on-shoring” the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”) and focussing...more
An update from the Dechert LIBOR taskforce - On July 29, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (the “ARRC”) formally recommended the forward-looking term rates based on the secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”)...more