ESMA also issued a Statement with initial guidance to firms using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies when they provide investment services to retail clients. Following its public statement of 14 December 2023, guidelines establishing harmonised criteria for the use of ESG and sustainability terms in fund names were shared.

The financial markets regulator also published the Final Report on the rules on conflicts of interests of crypto-asset service providers (CASP) under the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA).

A combined report on the 2023 Common Supervisory Action (CSA) and the accompanying Mystery Shopping Exercise (MSE) on marketing disclosure rules under MiFID II was released, as well as a reminder on rules for sharing information during pre-close calls.

With the objective of increasing access to data of public interest, we published the Statistics on Securities and Markets (ESSM) Report. ESMA also sent out a reminder to CRAs of their obligation to provide full visibility of the events that have led to the discontinuation of a specific rating.

Consultations on the MiFIR review were launched: a consultation on non-equity trade transparency, reasonable commercial basis (RCB) and reference data, a second one on Consolidated Tape Providers and their selection, and a third one on proposed changes to the rules for position management controls and position reporting.

Finally, we published a Call for Evidence on the review of the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Eligible Assets Directive (EAD).

The newsletter features an announcement on the 11th Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day, and a full overview of all publications, together with information on next month’s speaking appearances of ESMA staff and vacancies. For updates, follow us on X and LinkedIn.