Latest news from EU institutions and bodies

The European Union expresses its deep concern over Israeli-adopted legislation affecting UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, emphasizing the agency’s critical role in providing humanitarian services and reaffirming its commitment to support UNRWA's mandate as essential until a sustainable solution to the conflict is achieved.

Overview of the main subjects to be discussed at meetings of the Council of the EU over the next two weeks and upcoming media events.

ESMA publishes data for quarterly bond liquidity assessment and the systematic internaliser calculations 31 October 2024 Market data Trading The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has today published the new quarterly liquidity assessment of bonds and the data for the quarterly systematic internaliser calculations for equity, equity-like instruments, bonds and for other non-equity instruments under MiFID II and MiFIR. As indicated in the public statement of 27 March 2024, the quarterly liquidity assessment of bonds as well as the data for the quarterly systematic internalisers will continue to be published by ESMA. Further details are provided in the relevant webpages of the calculations. Bonds quarterly liquidity assessment  ESMA has published the latest quarterly liquidity assessment for bonds available for trading on EU trading venues. For this period, there are currently 1,233 liquid bonds subject to MiFID II transparency requirements.  ESMA’s liquidity assessment for bonds is based on a quarterly assessment of quantitative liquidity criteria, which includes the daily average trading activity (trades and notional amount) and the percentage of days traded per quarter. ESMA updates the bond market liquidity assessments quarterly. However, additional data and corrections submitted to ESMA may result in further updates within each quarter, published in ESMA’s Financial Instruments Transparency System (FITRS), which shall be applicable the day following publication.    The full list of assessed bonds is now available through FITRS in the XML files with publication date from 31 October 2024 (see here) and through the Register web interface (see here).   ESMA also publishes two completeness indicators related to bond liquidity data.  The transparency requirements for bonds deemed liquid today will apply from 18 November 2024 to 16 February 2025. The application dates reflect the provisions of the RTS 2 (see the news item for more details).  Data for the systematic internaliser quarterly calculations The data covers the total number of trades and total volume over the period 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024 and includes: 25,819 equity and equity-like instruments; 146,127 bonds; and 6,214 sub-classes of derivatives (including equity derivatives, interest rate derivatives, commodity derivatives, emission allowance). Investment firms are required to perform the SI test by 15 November 2024. The data is now available through FITRS in the XML files with publication date 31 October 2024.  The results for equity and equity-like instruments are published only for instruments for which trading venues submitted data for at least 95% of all trading days over the 6-month observation period. The data publications also incorporate OTC trading to the extent it has been reported to ESMA. The publication includes data for instruments traded or available for trading during the reference period considered.   Further information: Cristina Bonillo Senior Communications Officerpress@esma.europa.eu

ESMA to become direct supervisor for two additional data reporting services providers 31 October 2024 Market data Supervisory convergence The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, published today the annual assessment of the derogation criteria for data reporting services providers (DRSPs). Two entities currently supervised at national level will come under ESMA’s direct supervision, as they do not fulfil the derogation criteria for the second consecutive year. Based on 2023 data these two entities are Wiener Börse AG (operating an Approved Publication Arrangement (APA), domiciled in Austria) and KELER Központi Értéktár Zrt (operating an Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM) and an APA, domiciled in Hungary).  Both entities will be subject to ESMA supervision from 1 June 2025. DRSPs (APAs and ARMs) are exempt from ESMA supervision when their activities are of limited relevance for the internal market. This is measured by the number of Member States where clients of the DRSP are established and the market share of the DRSP in terms of number and volume of trades (APAs) and transactions (ARMs) in the EU. This assessment is conducted yearly and determines whether there is a change in supervisory responsibility.  Next Steps Following the notification about the outcome of the assessment of the derogation criteria, ESMA will engage closely with the two entities subject to a change of supervisor and with their current supervisors, to initiate the handover of responsibilities.  Background The ESAs’ Review Regulation has transferred the authorisation and supervision of DRSPs from national competent authorities to ESMA, except for those DRSPs subject to a derogation. The criteria to identify those DRSPs that are supervised by NCAs by way of derogation are specified in a Delegated Act (DA). According to the DA, ESMA is mandated to reassess the relevance for the internal market of the activities of an APA or an ARM every year. In the case that, based on the assessment, the thresholds for derogation or application of ESMA supervision are no longer met in two consecutive years, the change into application or derogation of ESMA supervision takes effect on 1 June in the following year.   More information: Cristina Bonillo Senior Communications Officerpress@esma.europa.eu

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

EIOPA's October 2024 Insurance Risk Dashboard shows that risks in the European insurance sector are stable and overall at medium levels, with pockets of vulnerabilities stemming from market volatility and real estate prices.