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Date Ref. Title Section Type Download Info Summary Related Documents Translated versions
17/05/2011 2011/BS/123 Decision of the Board of Supervisors- Appointment of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Board of Supervisors, Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Decision PDF
171.3 KB
04/10/2011 2011/323 Final report- ESMA's technical advice on possible delegated acts concerning the Prospectus Directive as amended by the Directive 2010/73/EU Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Advice PDF
797.56 KB
01/03/2012 2012/137 ESMA’s technical advice on possible delegated acts concerning the Prospectus Directive as amended by the Directive 2010/73/EU Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Advice PDF
1.32 MB		 ESMA publishes today the second part of its final advice (ESMA/2012/137) on possible delegated acts for the Prospectus Directive (PD).  The advice was submitted to the Commission on 29 February 2012.  In its advice, ESMA proposes how to use a prospectus in a retail cascade and provides input on how to review the provisions of the Prospectus Regulation concerning tax information, indices, auditor’s report on profit forecasts and estimates and audited historical financial information. Today’s advice follows a public consultation started on 13 December 2011. Overall, the technical advice aims to achieve a high level of investor protection and to increase across Europe the legal clarity and efficiency of the prospectus regime. Investment prospectuses as such are aimed to provide investors with easily accessible information on financial products so as to foster in-formed decision-making.
09/01/2013 2012/864 ESMA’s technical advice on possible delegated acts concerning the Prospectus Directive as amended by the Directive 2010/73/EU Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Advice PDF
1.23 MB
10/06/2013 2013/619 Annex II Comparative table of responses from EEA States Prospectus Report PDF
2.15 MB
10/06/2013 2013/619 Annex III Individual responses from EEA States Prospectus Report PDF
2.63 MB
2013-619_report_liability_regimes_under_the_prospectus_directive_published_on_website.pdf
24/06/2013 BoA 2013-008 Board of Appeal Decision Joint Committee, Board of Appeal Decision PDF
242.72 KB		 The joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA and EIOPA) has published today its decision in an appeal brought by an Estonian company against a decision of the EBA. It concerned the question whether the suitability of the managers of a significant branch of a bank may be a matter within EU law, and not just national law. Allowing the appeal, the Board of Appeal interpreted Directive No. 2006/48/EC consistently with the EBA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders. It came to the conclusion that the “fit and proper” requirement is not restricted to the persons who direct the business of the credit institution. The matter therefore was within the EBA’s powers of investigation. Although the appellant criticised the way in which the EBA dealt with its complaint, the Board of Appeal made it clear that it did not accept that criticism. It considered that the EBA dealt with the complaint in an appropriate manner. The ground on which the appeal was allowed was one of interpretation of the applicable legal provisions. The case was remitted to the EBA to adopt the appropriate decision in accordance with the Board of Appeal’s findings. This is for information only. The decision consists of the signed Decision only. For any enquiries, please contact EIOPA’s Press Office: Anzhelika Mayer Tel.: +49 69 9511 1968
29/07/2013 JC 2013/01 Final Draft Regulatory Technical Standards Joint Committee Technical Standards PDF
1.17 MB
20/12/2013 2013/1970 Draft Regulatory Technical Standards on specific situations that require the publication of a supplement to the prospectus Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Standards PDF
713.74 KB		 The Final Report contains the draft Regulatory Technical Standard (RTS) on situations which require the publication of a supplement to the prospectus which ESMA is required to submit to the European Commission by 1 January 2014 in accordance with Article 16(3) of the Prospectus Directive. The Report furthermore includes a summary of the main responses received to ESMA’s Consultation Paper which was published in March 2013. The draft RTS sets out nine situations which are always considered to be significant in the context of securities issuance and where a supplement to the prospectus will always be required. Other situations would require a case-by-case assessment.
13/01/2014 BoA 2013-014 Board of Appeal Decision Global Private Rating Company v. ESMA Joint Committee, Board of Appeal Decision PDF
361.96 KB		 Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities dismisses appeal made by a refused CRA-applicant against ESMA On 10 January 2014, the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities handed down its decision on an appeal by the appellant, Global Private Rating Company “Standard Rating” Ltd, against the refusal by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to register it as a credit rating agency. This is the first appeal against a decision by ESMA refusing an applicant registration as a credit rating agency. The Board of Appeal unanimously decided that the appeal should be dismissed, and that ESMA’s refusal decision should be confirmed. It stated that it accepted the appellant’s point that the registration of a credit rating agency by ESMA is a new process, and recognised that the procedures will to an extent take time fully to work out. Nevertheless, because of the responsibilities placed on credit rating agencies and their importance in the financial system generally, it considered that the onus must be on an applicant to satisfy ESMA that the relevant requirements are met. The application and its contents must be very clear, and it is not ESMA’s responsibility as regulator to remedy deficiencies.
17/07/2014 2014/C1/02 Board of Appeal Decision Joint Committee, Board of Appeal Decision PDF
368.94 KB		 The Joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority) published its decision in an appeal brought by SV Capital OÜ, an Estonian company, against a decision of the EBA. This was the second appeal to be considered by the Board of Appeal in this matter between the same parties concerning the question whether the suitability of the managers of a significant branch of a bank raised a question of Union law. Following the Board of Appeal’s affirmative decision of 24 June 2013, the appellant requested the EBA to initiate an investigation against the Estonian and Finnish Financial Supervision Authorities because their alleged failure to take action in respect of individuals in the Estonian branch of Nordea Bank Finland PLC whom it was alleged were not fit and proper persons to be key function holders in the bank. The EBA decided that it would not initiate an investigation.  The Board of Appeal decided that the EBA had been right to raise the matter with the national supervisors, but that having done so, it was entitled to take no further action in the light of their responses. The Board accordingly dismissed the appellant’s appeal against the EBA’s decision.
29/09/2014 2014/1187 Draft Regulatory Technical Standards on major shareholdings and an indicative list of financial instruments subject to notification requirements under the revised Transparency Directive Corporate Disclosure, Transparency Technical Standards PDF
810.07 KB		 The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) under the revised Transparency Directive relating to the notification of major shareholdings.
02/12/2014 2014/BOA/05 Decision by the ESA BoA concerning Investor Protection Europe sprl Joint Committee, Board of Appeal Decision PDF
229.85 KB		 The Joint Board of Appeal of the ESAs decides on the inadmissibility of an appeal brought by IPE sprl, a company based in Brussels, against a decision by ESMAThe Joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities published today its decision in an appeal brought by Investor Protection Europe (IPE) sprl, a company based in Brussels, against a decision of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) of 10 June 2014 not to initiate an investigation under Article 17 of the ESMA Regulation regarding an alleged breach of Union law by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier of Luxembourg.  The Board of Appeal unanimously decided that the appeal was inadmissible, and in the light of that decision, did not consider the substance of IPE’s complaint.
23/12/2014 JC/2014/092 Draft RTS on risk concentration and intra-group financial transactions under Financial Conglomerates Directive Joint Committee Technical Standards PDF
819.76 KB
28/01/2015 2014/SMSG/002 Decision- Rules of procedure of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Decision PDF
131.88 KB
01/07/2015 2015/1014 Draft RTS on prospectus related issues under the Omnibus II Directive Corporate Disclosure Technical Standards PDF
949.89 KB
14/08/2015 BOA/2015/001 Decision of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities given under Article 60 of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 and the Board of Appeal’s Rules of Procedure (BOA 2012 002) Joint Committee, Board of Appeal Decision PDF
147.78 KB
29/03/2016 2016/410 ESMA Report on Enforcement and Regulatory Activities of Accounting Enforcers in 2015 Corporate Disclosure, IFRS Supervisory Convergence, Supervisory convergence Report PDF
692.52 KB

Executive Summary

This report provides an overview of the activities of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the accounting enforcers in the European Economic Area (EEA), thereafter, ‘European enforcers’, when examining compliance of financial information provided by issuers listed on regulated markets with the applicable financial reporting framework in 2015. It also provides an overview of the main activities performed at European level, quantitative information on enforcement activities in Europe as well as ESMA’s contribution to the development of the single rule book in the area of financial reporting. In addition, it also outlines ESMA’s activities for 2016 in the area of corporate reporting following its Supervisory Convergence Work Programme.

Supervisory Convergence

Following the implementation of the ESMA Guidelines on enforcement of financial information (hereafter the Guidelines on enforcement), ESMA and European enforcers have further strengthened supervisory convergence in the area of enforcement of financial information. The Guidelines on enforcement significantly contributed to the alignment of supervisory approaches/procedures through the use of harmonised key concepts for examinations, of a common set of enforcement priorities, of common rules for enforcement actions and of a single set of criteria for identifying accounting matters for which coordination at European level within ESMA is needed. In the last area, the number of accounting issues discussed by the enforcers before taking enforcement decisions increased significantly (65 emerging issues in 2015 vs 47 in 2014) and contributed to enhancing supervisory convergence as enforcers should take into account the outcome of these discussions when taking decisions .

In 2015 ESMA and European enforcers evaluated the level of compliance with IFRS in the areas identified as common enforcement priorities for the 2014 annual financial statements on a sample of 189 issuers. This assessment resulted in 40 enforcement actions being taken on shortcomings in the disclosures of assumptions and judgements supporting the recognition of deferred tax assets arising from tax losses, when assessing control or classifying joint arrangements.

As in previous years, ESMA together with European enforcers identified and included in their supervisory practices a set of common enforcement priorities significant for European issuers when preparing their 2015 IFRS financial statements. These priorities include the impact of the financial markets’ conditions in IFRS financial statements, presentation of the statement of cash flows and related disclosures as well as the fair value measurement of non-financial assets and related disclosures. Specific references to some of the 2014 common priorities and to the new IFRS requirements, notably on IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers are also part of these priorities.

As a response to increased concerns in the markets, ESMA issued Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures (hereafter the Guidelines on APMs) which are aimed at contributing to the publication of transparent, unbiased and comparable information by European issuers on their financial performance. The Guidelines on APMs will apply to APMs disclosed by issuers when publishing regulated information or persons responsible for the prospectus. European enforcers had to adapt their supervisory procedures and declare their compliance to these guidelines.

Also as part of the supervisory convergence activities, ESMA issued an Opinion on the application of the IFRS requirements on the cash contributions to Deposit Guarantee Schemes (DGS) in order to address the divergence in the application and enforcement in the accounting treatment applicable to these contributions and to prevent it from becoming widespread.

ESMA published a Statement referring to principles relevant for improving the quality of disclosures as a response to concerns expressed by users on the overload, lack of completeness or relevance of the information provided in the financial statements.

Finally, European enforcers examined the interim or annual financial statements of approximately 1,200 issuers representing an average examination rate of 20% of all IFRS issuers with securities listed on regulated markets, out of which 14% related to unlimited scope examinations and 6% to focused examinations. As a result of these activities, European enforcers took actions addressing material departures against 273 issuers, representing around 25% of the selected sample. The main deficiencies were identified in the areas of financial statements presentation, impairment of non-financial assets and accounting for financial instruments.

Single Rule Book

ESMA actively participated to the accounting standard setting process by providing European enforcers’ positions on all major new standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and by contributing to the discussions in the EFRAG Board and the Technical Expert Group (EFRAG TEG) meetings. Notably, ESMA provided specific input to the due process and endorsement advices on IFRS 9, in aspects related to investor protection and financial stability as well as on its interaction with IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts. In addition, ESMA also contributed to the consistent application of IFRS by engaging with the IASB and the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC) when relevant issues were identified by enforcers and where a lack of clarity in IFRS could contribute to their divergent application.

In accordance with its mandate under the Transparency Directive, ESMA has submitted to the European Commission for endorsement the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the European Electronic Access Point (EEAP) and published the consultation paper on the draft RTS on European Single Electronic Format (ESEF).

Next Steps

ESMA published its Supervisory Convergence Work Programme which covers, among other topics, the activities of accounting enforcers. In addition to the regular activities, ESMA envisages to start carrying out peer reviews on some of the ESMA Guidelines on enforcement, to publish statements on the implementation of new major IFRS and to develop supervisory briefings to align procedures of European enforcers when monitoring and enforcing the Guidelines on APMs and disclosures in the financial statements.
07/04/2016 JC/2016/17 JC Risks and Vulnerabilities Report- Spring 2016 Joint Committee Report PDF
568.47 KB
01/07/2016 2016/SMSG/009 SMSG End of Term Report 2016 Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Report PDF
1.55 MB

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