SEC approval for crypto ETF
Yesterday, on January 10, 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) made the long-awaited decision by the crypto scene to allow the listing and distribution of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that track the price of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, so-called Bitcoin spot ETFs. Specifically, 11 of these Bitcoin spot ETFs were approved by SEC, including those from major market players such as BlackRock, Ark Investments and Fidelity. The approval decision was preceded by a false report shortly before the SEC decision, which once again led to considerable market distortions. The approval took a year-long coordination process between the parties involved and [...]
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What To Expect From The EU’s New PSD3, PSR AND FIDA Regulations
The Payment Services Directive II (PSD2) has changed the payment services industry in Europe. However, many details remain open and impractical and the implementation of the directive and the administrative practices of local financial supervisory authorities differ greatly in some cases. A reform is now pending with PSD3, which aims for a higher degree of harmonization and will bring with it many new requirements for payment service providers.What are the most important changes and challenges facing the industry? How can payment service providers prepare? Read the article by Renate Prinz and Annabelle Rau to find out how the planned PSD [...]
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ELTIF 2.0 – Alternative to the Open-Ended Real Estate Mutual Fund?
Introduction
The European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) is a European investment vehicle that was introduced for economic policy considerations, to provide additional financing opportunities to certain industries and companies. Although the European Commission launched the ELTIF in 2015, relatively few ELTIFs have been authorised since then. As of July 2023, only 95 ELTIFs existed according to ESMA’s public register. Most of these were issued in Luxembourg, France, Spain and Italy.
This year, however, the ELTIF has been subject of much discussion, especially in Germany. Why? The ELTIF Regulation has been fundamentally revised recently. The new regulations will come [...]
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Distribution of closed-end funds – On the necessity of revocation instructions under the German Civil Code (BGB)
When distributing investment funds and designing the fund documentation, information on revocation rights must be observed. This applies not only to mutual funds, but also to special funds if they are sold to “consumers” as defined by the German Civil Code. In addition to small investors, this may also include semi-professional investors. While the KAGB contains a special regulation in the area of open-end funds, the general regulations of the BGB apply to closed-end funds – which, however, do not apply to investments in closed-end funds.
Frank Müller and Tobias Koch outline which special features have to be [...]
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McDermott is nominated in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards in Europe
We are very pleased to announce that our firm has been nominated in the categories Innovation in Digital Solutions and Innovative Lawyers in Impact and ESG in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe.
The German legal tech team, led by Dr Thomas Hauss, was nominated for the Check of Regulatory Authorizations (CORA) tool in the Innovation in Digital Solutions category. The tool supports users in navigating the highly complex landscape of German and European financial supervisory law.
Learn more about CORA here.
Click here for the shortlist.
Our CORA team: Dr. Thomas [...]
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McDermott Funds Academy: GP-led secondaries and the launch of continuation funds
The McDermott Funds Academy online seminar took place on 6 July. We spoke with our experts Dr. Kian Tauser, Frank Müller and Tobias Koch about GP-led secondaries and the launch of continuation funds.
The online seminar was aimed at employees of fund initiators and sponsors, institutional investors, asset managers, capital management companies, custodians, banks and others with a connection to investment funds and their transactions.
Click here to view the full [...]
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United Kingdom’s digital pound meets public backlash – Why?
It’s not only the EU with its plans for a digital Euro that’s addressing the matter of Central Bank Digital Currency (“CBDC“). The UK has also unveiled an ambitious roadmap for the introduction of a ‘Britcoin’ by 2030. In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Annabelle Rau sheds light on the impacts of CBDCs on privacy, financial inclusion, and the risks of bank runs.
Follow this link to the full version of the article on [...]
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ESG, home office and real estate transactions – BaFin publishes 7th MaRisk amendment
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (“BaFin“) published the seventh amendment to the Minimum Requirements for Risk Management of Banks (“MaRisk“) on June 29, 2023.
The MaRisk codify BaFin’s administrative practice on risk management for German banks, in particular with respect to business organization and outsourcing, and in doing so substantiates the statutory requirements of Section 25a of the German Banking Act (“KWG“).
The amendments range from requirements of the European Banking Authority (“EBA“) for lending and monitoring to exceptions for securities trading in the home office and the managing of ESG and real estate risks.
- Loans: [...]
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European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) put forward common understanding of greenwashing and warn on risks
The European Supervisory Authorities published their Progress Reports on Greenwashing on June 1st. The reports includes a common high-level understanding of Greenwashing and thus helps to provide market participants and regulators with a shared reference point in dealing with this phenomenon.
In the report, ESMA assesses which areas of the sustainable investment value chain (SIVC) are more exposed to the risk of greenwashing. This assessment is meant to help market participants in preventing and mitigating greenwashing, and to support ESMA and NCAs in prioritising supervisory actions and regulatory intervention. The findings show that misleading claims may relate to all key [...]
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Stability through regulation
The financial industry is once again facing uncertainty and turbulence, caused in particular by the demise of some banks and problems in the crypto scene. In view of the current regulatory density, the question arises whether this is sufficient to ensure the stability of the financial industry and whether it can actually help to create market security and trust. Renate Prinz classifies the current developments in the Börsen-Zeitung.
Click here to read the full article in [...]
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