The uncertainty surrounding Brexit interfered in early August with the assessment of the transparency of financial products, causing disagreement between the European Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The Commission's delegated Regulation 'RTS 2', adopted in July 2016, which complements the Regulation on markets in financial instruments, requires ESMA, before 30 July each year, to submit to the Commission an assessment of the thresholds for determining the transparency obligations applicable to certain financial products.
However, in a letter dated 17 June, the President of the Authority, Steven Maijoor, asked the Commission to postpone the annual assessment due to the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU.
“The remaining uncertainties regarding the timing and conditions of Brexit do not allow for an adequate assessment at this point in time” says ESMA.
“Including or excluding UK data from the assessment would have a fundamental impact on the results and any decision whether to include UK data would depend on whether the UK is still a member of the Union at the time any legislative change would take effect”, it explains in its letter.
But the European Commission has a completely different point of view. In a letter dated 1 August, its Director General of Financial Services, Olivier Guersent, argues that it is precisely because of the future exit of the United Kingdom from the EU that this review must be carried out urgently.
The letter asks ESMA to provide the European Commission with “trajectories” that would allow it to compare data with and without the United Kingdom as an EU member.
“This data is necessary in order to form a view on whether the timelines for the phase-in provisions in RTS 2 would significantly differ from those initially anticipated” the Commission explains.
According to our information, no decision has yet been taken by ESMA, which is still examining the Commission's reply. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)