The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is coordinating the bloc’s regulatory response to the Ukraine war to ensure they continued to function in an orderly manner.
The European watchdog said it was closely monitoring the crisis’ impact and that it was “prepared to use its relevant tools to ensure the orderly functioning of markets, financial stability and investor protection.”
For example, it is closely looking at central counterparty (CCP) related volatility and margin developments in energy and commodities market segments.
It is als
o in close contact with national competent authorities (NCAs) focusing on the impact on clearing members and their clients in those markets.
ESMA will also continue to actively engage with credit agencies to ensure sufficient transparency around ratings and is assessing the impact of sanctions on their operations in close cooperation with other regulators.
Its watchlist also includes benchmarks, investment, secondary markets and central securities depositories.
The regulator said financial market participants should ensure they comply with the relevant EU sanctions and keep pace with any further restrictions.
The European Commission (EC) will provide clarity and answer queries on the scope and implementation of these and ESMA will have a supporting role.
It also said that issuers should disclose as soon as possible any inside information concerning the impacts of the crisis on their fundamentals, prospects, and financial situation in line with their transparency obligations under the Market Abuse Regulation, unless the conditions for a delayed disclosure are met,
It added that “issuers should provide transparency, to the extent possible on both a qualitative and quantitative basis, on the actual and foreseeable direct and indirect impacts of the crisis on their business activities, exposures to the affected markets, supply chains, financial situation and economic performance in their 2021 year-end financial report.”
If these have not yet been finalised and in the annual shareholders’ meeting or otherwise in their interim financial reporting disclosures.”
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