On 18 April 2019, the European Commission issued a press release welcoming the European Parliament's final votes on the legislation that puts in place the building blocks of a Capital Markets Union (CMU) and noting that "this adoption of a substantial number of proposals constitutes another step forward in the completion of the CMU, one of the Juncker Commission's top political priorities."
The EU launched its action plan for creating a CMU on 30 September 2015, and published its latest progress report in November 2018, with an update in March 2019
The CMU aims to boost growth in Europe, promote the EU's global competitiveness and drive investment in the Single Market by providing additional sources of financing for EU companies. Eleven out of 13 proposals have now been adopted and include:
- The adoption of new rules in SME growth markets which will make it cheaper and simpler for SMEs to access public markets, including through a category of trading venues dedicated to small issuers.
- Disclosure requirements on sustainable investments which aim to strengthen and improve the disclosure of "green" information by manufacturers of financial products and financial advisors towards end-investors.
- An investment firms review, introducing revised legislation which aims to ensure more proportionate rules and better supervision for all investment firms on capital, liquidity and other risk management requirements. The revised legislation aims to ensure a level playing field between large and systemic financial institutions.
- The European Supervisory Authorities review, which intends to make the European system of financial supervision more effective and efficient and which will ensure that rules are evenly enforced throughout the EU
- The Collective Investment Funds proposal which removes regulatory barriers for investment funds and diverges national rules in order to increase competition and facilitate intra-EU distribution of investment funds.
The full press release is available here.
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