The European Commission has introduced a new package of policy measures designed to promote sustainable finance in the EU. The package includes proposed rules for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating providers, to bolster transparency and reliability in the sustainable finance sector.

New reports from Europe’s financial regulatory agencies identify a notable surge in the number of potential instances of greenwashing, defined by the European Supervisory Authorities as “a practice where sustainability-related statements, declarations, actions, or communications do not clearly and fairly reflect the underlying sustainability profile of an entity, a financial product, or financial services.”

Proposed SEC climate change risk disclosures could qualify U.S. companies for a waiver from compliance with the EU corporate sustainability reporting requirements that were adopted by the EU in December 2022. The deciding factor may be the reporting of scope 3 emissions, those that are associated with the value chain—both suppliers and end-users—of a company’s product or services.

On April 12, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the risk retention requirements for securitization transactions.

On February 2, the European Commission published final rules labelling some gas and nuclear-based energy investments as “green.” The proposal initially introduced last December will be included in the EU’s taxonomy and intends to provide a common set of definitions of what constitutes a “sustainable investment” in Europe.

On January 24, the European Banking Authority (EBA) released a new set of mandatory templates and instructions that banks will have to follow to meet necessary disclosure requirements

On Friday, October 1, SFA submitted a response to The European Commission’s (EC) Targeted Consultation on the Functioning of the EU Securitisation Framework.

September 2, in coordination with other global trades, SFA submitted a unified response to Her Majesty’s Treasury Call for Evidence regarding securitization regulations in the UK. In order to show global alignment, SFA, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, UK Finance, and the Australian Securitisation Forum submitted identical language regarding ambiguity around the geographical scope of the EU/UK Securitization Regulation's requirements and how this has impeded securitization transactions.

Regulators in Europe are split about easing capital charges for synthetic securitizations that are labeled “simple, transparent and standardized” (STS).

Regulators in Europe are split about easing capital charges for synthetic securitizations that are labeled “simple, transparent and standardized” (STS). A draft report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) currently proposes to extend the label to include on-balance sheet synthetic securitizations, whereas the current regulation is usually reserved only for true sale securitizations. With the report…