The document serves as BETTER FINANCE response to selected questions of ESMA’s discussion paper on the implications of digitalisation for investor protection under MiFID II. The document “Discussion Paper on MiFID II investor protection topics linked to digitalisation” provided by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) focuses on various aspects of digitalisation in the
We are pleased to share that Jesse Collin, from BETTER FINANCE member organization Finnish Share Promotion Foundation, has been selected as a member of ESMA’s Consultative Working Group in the Risk Standing Committee – Investor Trends and Research Working Group. The working group will focus on consumers, ESG and innovation related topics. For a full
BETTER FINANCE agrees with ESMA that names can be misleading if those funds do not invest in line with what their names would suggest.
Retail investors are increasingly concerned about the impact of their investment decisions on society and the environment. In recent years, European Union (EU) institutions have amended the legislation regarding the distribution of retail investment products by investment firms–the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II)–and related delegated legislation and guidelines to define how investment firms
ESMA’s Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms in their names propose the use of quantitative thresholds whereby “if an investment fund has any ESG-, or impact-related words in its name, a minimum proportion of 80% of its investments should be used to meet the environmental or social characteristics or sustainable investment objectives…”
According to the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) recent study on the EU Eco-label awarded to green retail financial products and services, only 16 funds out of a sample of 3000 meet the proposed minimum portfolio greenness threshold of 50% and exclusion requirements. In view of these findings, the supervisor has suggested loosening requirements
The European Commission published a legislative proposal for a regulation on European green bonds, which is supposed to become the high quality voluntary European Green Bond Standard. Its intention is to use the potential of the single market for achieving the EU’s climate and environmental goals in a more efficient way.
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) created the International Sustainability Standards Board “to provide the global financial markets with high-quality disclosures on climate and other sustainability issues.” As part of its work, the ISSB published two exposure drafts on climate-related disclosures and geenral requirements for disclosure of sustainbility-related financial information.