EU DEVELOPMENTS -

Corporate and Capital Markets -

Institutional Investment: ESMA Report on Undue Short-Term Pressure on Corporations (Corporate Aspects) -

On 18 December 2019, the European Securities and Markets Regulator (ESMA) published a report on undue short-term pressure on corporations in securities markets. On environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures, ESMA recommends that the European Commission take action on setting a minimum level of comparability, relevance and reliability for ESG disclosures, amending the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) to establish principles for high quality non financial information, assess the feasibility of achieving international convergence and consolidation of disclosure frameworks, including a non-financial statement in the issuer’s financial reports, and establishing consistency between the NFRD and Transparency Directive. The Transparency Directive was issued in 2004, later revised in 2013, and aims to ensure the transparency of information for investors through effective financial reporting.