FeBAF on the European Single Access Point for companies’ information
17 March 2021
A single standardized European platform that collects financial and non-financial information of EU companies has been recently presented by the European Commission as an ambitious overall proposal named the European Single Access Point (ESAP).
The European Commission presented the initiative through a public consultation which closes on Friday 12th March. The creation of such a platform is the first action in the Commission’s new Action Plan on the Capital Markets Union (CMU). It has a dual purpose, on the one hand to facilitate the access and use of disclosed information to encourage cross-border investments at a European level and on the other hand to improve the quality of the information provided by companies and financial operators, particularly information concerning ESG principles engrained in sustainable finance, and in compliance with European regulations. In its response to the consultation, FeBAF - The Italian Banking Insurance and Finance Federation expressed support for the initiative, taking up the challenge of sustainability and the collection of ESG data but highlighted the need to safeguard the principles of proportionality and graduality.
In this sense, the completeness of the information that companies will have to provide should not lead to greater burdens within the reporting and compliance obligations, especially for SMEs. Therefore, it is auspicabile to harmonize European legislations, avoiding unnecessary effects of duplication and redundancy - also in light of those deriving from the pandemic and the forthcoming revision of the directive on reporting on non-financial information (NFRD) - and in order to bring significant benefits and facilitate investments in listed and unlisted companies. Lastly, FeBAF believes that the governance and financing of the platform should be a prerogative of European institutions and authorities.
FeBAF