Announced in late 2023, the Attractiveness Act is going forward, with MP Alexandre Holroyd recently submitting a bill that contains several significant amendments. AMAFI is especially pleased about the following measures:
Several amendments called for by AMAFI went unheeded, including the request to raise the capitalisation threshold below which listed companies are eligible for inclusion in small-business equity savings plans from EUR 1 billion to EUR 2 billion and to remove size requirements in terms of headcount, total assets and revenues. AMAFI will continue to lobby for these proposals during future legislative initiatives.
T+1
With the United States poised to shorten its securities settlement period from two days to just one at the end of May 2024, and with several countries, including the United Kingdom, contemplating a similar move, the European Commission is mulling the same action in the EU. At this stage, AMAFI (AMAFI / 24-15) has expressed serious concerns, arguing that such a change is not worthwhile because the costs outweigh the scant benefits. There is no evidence that EU markets would gain added appeal, since attractiveness is based on sound economic fundamentals and robust settlement processes, not on the length of the settlement cycle.
Nevertheless, if the decision is taken to shorten the cycle, several aspects must be addressed to ensure a smooth transition. These include:
CSDR penalty mechanism
At the same time, ESMA is planning to amend the CSDR system of penalties for market participants responsible for settlement fails. A key goal is to set up a progressive penalty regime that considers how long these fails actually last.
AMAFI stressed that the finance industry shares ESMA’s goal of making settlement within the EU more efficient. But the proposed changes seem premature, insofar as the current penalty mechanism was introduced only recently, in February 2022, and the first step should be to improve market practices. Since any change to the penalty regime will entail major investments by financial institutions and settlement infrastructure providers, the implications for shortening Europe’s settlement cycle to T+1 need to be considered, because the result could be an increase in settlement fails.
Afin de répondre à une demande de ses adhérents appliquant la Convention collective des Marchés financiers (CCNM), l’AMAFI a décidé de lancer une lettre d’information sociale.
L’objectif est de diffuser toutes les actualités sociales ainsi que les travaux en cours au niveau de la branche professionnelle des activités de marché.
Vous pouvez retrouver les numéros de l’info Sociale dans la rubrique Social/Info Sociale.
Interview de Stéphane Giordano dans le supplément AMAFI - Revue Banque à paraître fin mai sur l'Union des marchés de capitaux et les priorités européennes.
