On 4 October 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) launched a consultation paper on possible amendments to the trading obligation under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (“MiFIR”), following the introduction of the EMIR Refit Regulation (“EMIR Refit”). The recent changes introduced by EMIR Refit modify the scope of counterparties subject to the […]
In July 2019, the so-called ‘AIFMD 2’ – Directive (EU) 2019/1160 amending Directives 2009/65/EC and 2011/61/EU with regard to cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings (the “Directive”) entered into force. The Directive is complemented by Regulation (EU) 2019/1156 on facilitating cross-border distribution of collective investment undertakings. Though for the purposes of this article, focus will […]
On 25 September 2019 the Council of the European Union announced that it has agreed its position on a proposal to create an EU-wide classification system, or “taxonomy”, in order to establish a common framework to facilitate sustainable investment as part of the EU strategy on financing sustainable growth and the transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient […]
On 14 October 2019 the Malta Budget for the year 2020 was presented to the Parliament of Malta. Various incentives were introduced in order to aid the elderly and to tackle the affordable housing challenges faced by people. Moreover, the Budget presented measures intended to combat climate change. To read our summary of the salient […]
I had the pleasure of listening to Prof Barry Rider OBE at the 30th ICC Fraudnet Conference in Beirut on 11th October 2019 which specifically addressed asset recovery, confiscation and anti-fraud measures in the banking system. ICC FraudNet is a specialist international network of fraud and asset recovery lawyers that brings together an unrivalled team […]
In its decision of the 27th September 2019 in the names Marina Milling & Grain Handling Co. Limited (MMGH Ltd.) vs Euro Imports Limited, the Court of Appeal decided for the first time, that an order by the First Hall, Civil Court, ordering a company to be liquidated and subsequently wound up in terms of […]
On 10 June 2019 the amended European Shareholder Rights Directive II (the “Directive”) came into force. This Directive includes transparency obligations which aim to encourage long-term shareholder engagement and impacts institutional investors (pension funds and insurers) and asset managers (MiFID firms providing portfolio management services, AIFMs – except for de minimis AIFMs, UCITS ManCos and […]
In September 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”), in fulfilment of the European Systemic Risk Board recommendations to address liquidity and leverage risk in investment funds, published its final guidelines on liquidity stress testing (“LST”) in undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities (“UCITS”) and alternative investment funds (“AIFs”)(the “Guidelines”). The purpose […]
In line with the increasingly tough stance taken to “jumping the gun” in merger proceedings by other competition authorities, the UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) recently imposed a penalty on PayPal for failing to comply with an Initial Enforcement Order (IEO) issued by it pending its investigation into the US payments giant’s acquisition of […]
On 20 September 2019, the Malta Financial Services Authority (the “MFSA”) issued a circular on the go live of MiFID II XML Schema version 1.1.0, aiming to provide further information and technical remarks about the go live of the new portal. The publication follows the release of technical remarks about the MiFID II Phase 2 […]