1.
Welcome to Euro Shorts, a short briefing on some of the week’s developments in the financial services
industry in Europe.
If you would like to discuss any of the points we raise below, please contact me or one of our other lawyers.
Claire Cummings
020 7585 1406
claire.cummings@cummingslaw.com
www.cummingslaw.com
AIFMD NPPR and changes to notification forms
The FCA has updated its webpage on the national private placement regime (NPPR) under the
AIFMD. It has published the notification forms to be submitted to it concerning material changes
to the information previously submitted to it by certain AIFMs using the NPPR in the UK,
namely: (i) the Article 36 material change form; (ii) the Article 42 material change form; and (iii)
the Small Third Country material change form. The FCA has also published a guidance note to
assist firms when completing these forms.
Further ESMA consultation on MiFID II
ESMA is consulting on draft guidelines for the assessment of knowledge and competence of
natural persons in investment firms providing investment advice or information about financial
instruments under MiFID II (ESMA/2015/753). ESMA considers that compliance with the
knowledge and competence requirements requires individuals to acquire an "appropriate
qualification" and gain "appropriate experience" to provide investment advice or information to
clients. The draft guidelines set out the areas of knowledge and experience against which
individuals should be assessed for these purposes. The draft guidelines are set out in Annex IV to
the consultation paper. Annex V to the consultation paper contains illustrative examples of the
application of certain aspects of the draft guidelines. Comments are invited by 10 July 2015.
Jonathan Hill speech on CMU benefits
In a recent speech, Jonathan Hill, Commissioner for the Directorate General (DG) Financial
Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (CMU) highlighted the benefits of the
proposed CMU and points of interest include: (i) a more detailed action plan and timetable for the

2. CMU will be published by the Commission in summer 2015; (ii) the European Commission is
"pushing forward" to make quick progress on early projects, like securitisation and revising the
prospectus rules; (iii) support in the European Parliament for the CMU has been positive; and (iv)
Lord Hill is keen for the financial industry to suggest practical actions to the Commission. Lord
Hill used his speech to explain that the European Commission has been adapting to a new
approach towards legislation, as follows: (a) the Commission will only bring forward one fifth of
the number of new legislative initiatives this year than was the case in a typical year in previous
Commissions; (b) the Commission will also review more existing laws; and (c) there will be less
new legislation in the future and more focus on bedding-in the reforms of recent years.
G20 communique on financial services issues
The G20 has published a communique following the meeting of finance ministers and central
bank governors in Washington last week. Among other things, in the communique, the ministers
and governors state that they will: (i) identify and address gaps related to the resilience, recovery
and resolution of CCPs; (ii) enhance cross border co-operation to enable regulations to be more
effective, particularly in the areas of resolution and OTC derivatives markets reforms, where swift
implementation is required; and (iii) ask the Financial Stability Board to report on the progress on
the co-ordinated work plan to promote CCP resilience, recovery planning and resolvability by the
G20 finance ministers meeting in September 2015.
Eurozone recovery apparent
European Central Bank executive board member, Benoit Coeure, said in an interview this week
that although the eurozone recovery “is clearly there”, the recovery is still "insufficient and
somewhat unequally spread from country to country" and it is up to governments to ensure it
endures. He added that the ECB’s concern is that “the current upturn is merely a cyclical one, that
it's merely a flash in the pan." He said that growth can be achieved long term via labour market
reforms and by more generally creating a business environment that is more conducive to
investment. He also confirmed that the ECB would continue its QE programme for the time
being.
ESMA call for evidence on virtual currency
ESMA has published a call for evidence on investments using virtual currency (VC) or distributed
ledger technology. ESMA has been monitoring and analysing VC investment over the last six
months to understand developments in the market, potential benefits or risks for investors, market
integrity or financial stability, and to support functioning of the EU single market. It is now
sharing its analysis to promote wider understanding of innovative market developments. The call
for evidence requests feedback on: (i) VC products e.g. collective investment schemes or
derivatives such as options and contracts for difference that have VC as an underlying or invest in
VC related businesses and infrastructure; (ii) VC based assets and securities and asset transfers
e.g. financial assets such as shares and funds that are exclusively traded using VC distributed
block chains; and (iii) the application of the distributed ledger technology to securities and
investments, whether inside or outside a VC environment. Comments are invited by 21 July 2015.
Subject to assessing the responses received to the call for evidence, ESMA has no immediate
plans to take any regulatory action.

3. EU Council adopts ELTIF and MLD4 Regulations
The EU Council has announced that it has adopted the Regulation on European Long-Term
Investment Funds (ELTIF Regulation), the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (MLD4) and the
revised Wire Transfer Regulation (WTR) at first reading. The Council appears to have adopted
the text of the ELTIF Regulation that it published in March 2015 and the texts of MLD4 and the
WTR that it published on 10 April 2015. The Council has also published an item note to
COREPER containing statements from France, the Czech Republic and Austria setting out their
reservations about the final texts of MLD4 and the revised WTR.
Deutsche fined for manipulation of LIBOR and EURIBOR
The FCA has fined Deutsche Bank £227 million this week for attempted manipulation of LIBOR
and EURIBOR rates (together, IBOR) between January 2005 and December 2010 and for failing
to deal with the FCA in an open and co-operative way. Deutsche Bank agreed to settle at an
early stage of the FCA investigation and qualified for a 30% discount, but the fine is still the
largest ever imposed by the FCA for IBOR-related misconduct. Deutsche was also fined by the
CFTC, the US Department of Justice and the New York Department of Financial Services of $800
million, $775 million and $600 million respectively on the same day. According to the FCA’s
final notice, the direct involvement of managers and senior managers in many aspects of Deutsche
Bank's misconduct aggravated the seriousness of the breaches.
Greece fails to make progress on reforms for debt talks
Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU Commissioner for the Euro, has said that not enough progress had
been made in debt talks with Greece to allow the payout of bailout funds amid demands for
deeper reforms. It was hoped that a deal would be reached at this week’s meeting of the eurozone
finance ministers, but according to Mr Dombrovkis: "Progress in technical negotiations has not
been sufficient to reach any conclusion during this Eurogroup here in Riga". If no deal is
reached, then expectations will centre around the next meeting on May 11, shortly before Greece's
next payment to the IMF is due. However, according to reports, European officials are
increasingly floating the end of the June as the real deadline, which is when Greece’s current
bailout programme expires.
Cummings
Tel: + 44 20 7585 1406
Mob: + 44 7734 057 327
www.cummingslaw.com
24 April 2015