Directive (EU) 2024/2811

What it is

to ease EU small and medium capitalisation companies’ access to capital markets, and to increase the coherence of Union listing rules. PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council has been amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which introduced proportionate alleviations to enhance the use of SME growth markets and to reduce the excessive regulatory requirements for issuers seeking admission of securities on SME growth markets, while preserving an appropriate level of investor protection and market integrity. However, to streamline the listing process and to render the regulatory treatment of companies more flexible and proportionate to their size, further amendments to Directive 2014/65/EU are necessary. The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted the report by Alfred SANT (S&D, MT) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2014/65/EU to make public capital markets in the Union more attractive for companies and to facilitate access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises and repealing Directive 2001/34/EC. The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: Members called on the ESMA to develop draft regulatory technical standards to establish a harmonised Union code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research . The code of conduct shall set out minimum standards of independency and objectivity to be complied with by the providers of such research and specify procedures for the identification and prevention of conflicts of interest. The Union-wide code of conduct for issuer-sponsored research should be made publicly available on ESMA’s website. Research that is labelled as issuer-sponsored research should indicate on its front page in a clear and prominent way that it has been prepared in accordance with the Union code of conduct. Any other research material paid fully or in part by the issuer but not prepared in compliance with the Union code of conduct should be labelled as marketing communication. Member States should ensure that competent authorities have the necessary supervisory and investigative powers to enforce compliance by investment firms producing or using issuer-sponsored research with the Union code of conduct. Obligation to execute orders on terms most favourable to the client Member States should require that investment firms take all sufficient steps to obtain, when executing orders, the best possible result for their clients taking into account price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature, the provision of investment research, or any other consideration relevant to the execution of the order. ESMA should develop guidelines on how investment firms providing portfolio management or…

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