What steps should a CRA take in order to ensure a sufficient level of quality and transparency in the periodic review of credit ratings conducted in accordance with Article 8(5)?

Is it possible for third country credit institutions and investment firms to apply the trading book exemption set out in Article 9(6) of the Transparency Directive 2004/109/EC (TD) or is the application of this exemption limited only to EU credit institutions and investment firms?

Art. 1. 4. (d) of the prospectus regulation states that "The obligation to publish a prospectus set out in Article 3(1) shall
not apply to any of the following types of offers of securities to the
public: ...(d) an offer of securities addressed to investors who acquire securities for a total consideration of at least EUR 100 000 per investor, for each separate offer;"
Question: may the purchase of securities by a joint account be considered as "one investor"? Let us assume that, in the context of an offer, a purchase for EUR 100,000 is executed for a joint account held by husband and wife. In such case, is the above mentioned condition of "at least EUR 100 000 per investor" still complied with? (See ESMA_QA_835)

(a) According to Article 7 of the RTS on settlement discipline, CSDs shall set up a bilateral cancellation facility that enables participants to bilaterally cancel matched settlement instructions that form part of the same transaction. Can this cancellation facility be contractually waived by the participants, e.g. for settlement instructions already matched by a trading venue (and subject to multilateral settlement) or transactions centrally cleared by a CCP?
(b) Is it possible for matched settlement instructions to be cancelled automatically by the CSD if on settlement date for any reason settlement is not possible (i.e. securities, cash is not available) or does this require bilateral cancellation from the participants submitting the instructions?

When the marketing of an AIF or a UCITS is not performed by the AIFM or UCITS management company but by a third party distributor, does the responsibility for ensuring that marketing communications comply with the requirements set out in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1156 lie with the AIFM or the UCITS management company where there is a contractual relationship between the AIFM or the UCITS management company and the third party distributor? Conversely, does the responsibility for ensuring that marketing communications comply with the requirements set out in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1156 still lie with the AIFM or the UCITS management company in case there is no contractual relationship with the third party distributor?