En novembre dernier, les Autorités européennes de surveillance (l’EBA, l’ESMA et l’EIOPA) ont publié conjointement un appel à contribution sur le sujet de l’écoblanchiment, plus communément appelé greenwashing. L’objectif était de mieux en comprendre les caractéristiques, les moteurs et les risques d’une part, à collecter des exemples de pratiques de greenwashing d’autre part.
L’AMAFI a apporté sa contribution (AMAFI / 23-03) en indiquant qu’un juste équilibre doit être trouvé pour que la définition du greenwashing puisse utilement prévenir les pratiques abusives et intentionnelles, rassurer les investisseurs dans les produits « verts » et clarifier les attentes pesant sur les acteurs financiers.
L’enjeu est ainsi de disposer d’un référentiel préalablement défini sur la base duquel les accusations de greenwashing pourront être évaluées. Cette sécurité juridique est essentielle pour que la finance durable poursuive son développement, au risque sinon de la gêner, limitant ainsi le financement de la transition. En tout état de cause, en l’absence d’un cadre règlementaire suffisamment stabilisé pour certains produits financiers tels que les dérivés, il demeure prématuré de chercher à définir le greenwashing pour ceux-ci.
Depuis le 1er janvier 2023, a été mis en place le « registre national des entreprises - RNE » qui regroupe, outre différentes informations relatives aux entreprises, celles figurant jusqu’alors dans le registre du commerce et des sociétés, le registre spécial des agents commerciaux et le registre des bénéficiaires effectifs. Or, les assujettis aux obligations de LCB-FT n’ont pas accès à l’intégralité des données de ce registre, pourtant nécessaires à la réalisation de leurs obligations de vérification d’identité de leurs clients personnes morales.
Dans ce contexte, le Groupe LCB-FT de l’AMAFI examine l’opportunité de à demander que les assujettis bénéficient d’un accès à ce RNE, ce qui pourrait nécessiter une modification de l’article R. 123-318 du Code de commerce listant les personnes autorisées à accéder à l’ensemble des informations contenues dans ce registre.
Après la publication de la Charte sur la Recherche sponsorisée (AMAFI / 22-44) le 11 mai 2022, l’AMAFI a rendu opérationnelle la tenue du registre telle que prévue par les articles 7 et 14 de la Charte. Ce registre permet notamment de recenser en un seul endroit l’ensemble des nouveaux contrats et avenants signés sous l’égide de la Charte et de rendre ces informations disponibles pour l’AMF. L’Association dénombre déjà environ 210 contrats dont 12 sont diffusables publiquement. Force est de constater que la Charte est un succès pour la Place de Paris que la récente proposition de Directive de la Commission dans le cadre du Listing Act traduit : en effet, elle reconnaît la recherche sponsorisée comme une véritable recherche en investissement, sous des conditions s’inspirant très largement du modèle français.
Une nouvelle publication de l’AMAFI qui présente nos axes prioritaires de travail pour cette année
Le salon Jeunes d’Avenir se tiendra les 12 et 13 avril à Paris Event Center Porte de la Villette.
Derivatives clearing
With the proposed review of EMIR, dubbed EMIR 3.0, announced in late 2022, the European Commission aims to make the European Union a choice location for derivatives clearing by building “a safe, robust and competitive EU central clearing ecosystem, able to withstand economic shocks”.
At this stage, and given developments under way in commodity markets since February 2022, AMAFI is concentrating on the potential effects of the proposed review on these markets. While AMAFI broadly supports the proposals, currently being discussed within the EU Council, some suggestions need to be clarified, including:
Conversely, AMAFI has serious concerns about the proposal to scrap the disclosure exemption for over-the-counter derivative contracts between counterparties belonging to the same group, where at least one of the counterparties is a non-financial counterparty. Such a change will increase the scope of disclosure as well as the associated costs, without offering supervisors meaningful information.
Gas market
As previously reported, the European Commission published Regulation 2022/2578 establishing a correction mechanism for the gas market in December 2022 (Info AMAFI No. 158). AMAFI has identified a number of problems with the new mechanism, particularly involving the potential increase in margin calls.
Although the mechanism came into effect on 15 February 2023, it has yet to be activated, as gas prices have plunged since the beginning of the year. In reports assessing the mechanism’s market effects (ESMA Report, ACER Report), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) found that the mechanism has had no significant impact since coming into effect. However, they stressed that this finding reflects the current market environment of low gas prices and high stock levels. Given that markets could tighten again, AMAFI continues to watch this issue closely.
Listing Act
The European Commission has published a proposal for a Listing Act that seeks to promote access to capital markets by companies, especially SMEs, by simplifying listing requirements, in keeping with the goals of CMU (Info AMAFI No. 158). Through the working group set up to review the proposed changes, which comprises members of several committees, AMAFI responded to the Have your Say consultation organised by the European Commission after publishing its proposal.
AMAFI broadly supports the Commission’s proposals (AMAFI / 23-23), which are intended to streamline and clarify the listing regime. However, since it is vital to have a stable operating framework, a balance needs to be struck between the value added expected from the amendments, which may be minor, and the adjustments that these changes will mean for the firms affected by them. AMAFI found that some of the proposals are not desirable according to the cost-benefit analysis.
Research
AMAFI shares the Commission’s view that investment research coverage of SMEs is inadequate. However, it also believes that this situation will not be materially improved by the proposal to raise from €1 billion to €10 billion the market capitalisation threshold below which unbundling rules do not apply. For this increase to be impactful, asset managers would have to raise awareness among customers and persuade them to pay for a service that they have not been charged for since MiFID II came into effect. Managers would also need to operate two parallel invoicing systems: one for market caps below €10 billion and one for firms exceeding the threshold.
For this reason, AMAFI strongly supports the Commission’s proposal to set up a framework for sponsored research, which it sees as the most appropriate, operational solution to promote SME-focused research. Specifically, the Commission is proposing to recognise sponsored research as investment research provided that it complies with a code of conduct developed or endorsed by a competent authority or market operators. In France, the AMAFI-AFG-SFAF charter on sponsored research (AMAFI / 22-44), which was established in May 2022, has already proven effective, with over 210 contracts signed under the charter so far (cf. special feature p. 2).
As part of the discussions ongoing at European level, AMAFI presented France’s charter to the finance ministers of Germany, Italy, Sweden and Poland. AMAFI is also working with other EFSA members to forge a joint position. As a result, AMAFI observes that the French model arouses real interest in Europe.
Market abuse
AMAFI largely backs the Commission’s proposed amendments on this topic. However some of the suggested measures are problematic, such as the proposal to replace the obligation for issuers to draw up insider lists by a requirement to prepare a list of permanent insiders. In AMAFI’s view, this would provide insufficient protection to the market and investment services providers. Instead, AMAFI proposes to simplify the obligation by adjusting the scope of the information required for the list.
Product governance
AMAFI is once again calling for MiFID II governance obligations for plain-vanilla products such as shares and ordinary bonds to be streamlined. The rules are a barrier to the widespread distribution of these products, especially shares and bonds issued by small and mid caps. Such a change would run counter to the Commission’s goal of encouraging broader market participation by retail investors.
Prospectus
AMAFI considers that many of the proposed modifications would provide benefits in terms of promoting flexibility and simplifying the market access process. In particular, it supports the proposal to reduce the delay between the publication of a prospectus and the end of the offering from six to three days , which will help to reduce risks in the event of market volatility.
However, some of the proposals could interfere with the flexibility offered by current provisions. For example, the proposal to establish a fixed order for presenting the different sections of the prospectus would prevent writers from making adjustments to reflect their firm’s specific circumstances. Likewise, AMAFI argues that incorporation by reference should remain optional when drafting the prospectus, instead of being mandatory as proposed by the Commission.
Using ESG and sustainability-related terms in fund names
AMAFI provided feedback to ESMA’s consultation on using ESG and sustainability-related terms in fund names. After taking part in the open hearing organised by European authorities on January 23rd, AMAFI particularly focused on including derivatives for the purpose of calculating the proposed thresholds which allow certain sustainability related words to be used in the funds’ names. AMAFI further elaborated on the inclusion of derivatives for their ability to contribute to sustainability (AMAFI / 23-13).
