IRELAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Vincent McConnon, William Foot, John Adams, Michelle Holligan, Nicole Burke and Graham Bloomfield, Matheson LLP
Commission prioritise and then bring forward proposals to deal with: • securitisation – assess all the factors nega - tively impacting the development of the EU securitisation market and take into account similar international standards; • supervisory convergence – assess ways to improve supervision in the EU through further developing a common rulebook and enhanc - ing supervisory convergence; • reducing regulatory burden – consider how to reduce regulatory and cost burdens for EU financial market participants; • national corporate insolvency frameworks – assess the need for additional measures to facilitate convergence in specific features of insolvency frameworks that could deter cross-border capital markets/investments; and • sustainable finance – enhance the usability of the EU sustainable finance framework and support stakeholders with its implementation. Stakeholders including the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland and the Association for Finan - cial Markets in Europe have welcomed the Euro - group Action Plan. Separately, in September 2024 the European Commission published a report authored by Mario Draghi entitled “The future of European competitiveness”. The report called for the com - pletion of the CMU, including by transitioning ESMA into the single common regulator for all EU securities markets and reviewing the current EU securitisation framework. Given the reaction to the Eurogroup Action Plan, together with the Securitisation Consulta - tion referenced above, the authors expect fur - ther progress on the CMU to be a key focus for
policymakers and legislators. Financial market participants should continue to monitor CMU- related developments in 2025. ESG Ratings Regulation Regulation (EU) 2024/3005 (the “ESG Ratings Regulation”) was published in the Official Jour - nal of the European Union on 12 December 2024 and will apply from 2 July 2026. It aims to increase transparency and confidence in sus - tainability-related information. The ESG Ratings Regulation will apply to ESG ratings issued by ESG rating providers operating in the EU. An “ESG rating provider” is any legal person whose occupation includes (i) the issu - ance and (ii) publication or distribution of ESG ratings on a professional basis. The concept of “operating in the Union” cov - ers either (i) issuing and publishing ratings on the provider’s website or through other means or (ii) issuing and distributing ratings through subscription or other contractual relationships to certain entities, such as regulated financial undertakings in the EU, entities within the scope of the EU Accounting Directive or EU Transpar - ency Directive, and certain EU bodies or public authorities in an EU member state. Providers established outside the EU will only be within scope where they engage in the activities refer - enced in (ii). ESG ratings are defined widely as an opinion, score or combination of both regarding a rated item’s profile or characteristics with regard to environmental, social and human rights or gov - ernance factors, exposure to risks, or the impact on environmental, social and human rights or governance factors based on both an estab - lished methodology and a defined ranking sys - tem of rating categories, irrespective of whether
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