Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite Sized Issue 12 2024

2 QUICK LINKS COSTS & CHARGES CSDR CRYPTOASSETS EMIR FINTECH FSB FUND LIQUIDITY MIFID II/MIFIR NBFI OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE SUSTAINABLEFINANCE/ESG T+1 ASIA NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 12 | 2024 The report outlines ESMA’s advice to improve the application of the CSDR penalty mechanism on three main aspects: • Alternative parameters to calculate the penalties due to lack of cash, when the official interest rate for overnight credit charged by the central bank issuing the settlement currency is not available; • The treatment of historical reference prices for the calculation of late matching fail penalties; and • The design and level of the penalty rates for each asset class. Regarding the last point, ESMA proposes to maintain the design of the current penalty mechanism, for example not introducing fundamental changes to the methods for calculating penalties, and to introduce an overall moderate increase of the penalty rates, in full alignment with the current types of settlement fails and targeting most asset classes. The European Commission will now take into account ESMA’s Technical Advice when amending the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/389. The revised penalty mechanismwill become applicable once the amended Commission Delegated Regulation has been adopted by the European Commission, scrutinised by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, and published in the EU Official Journal. Link to Final Report here CRYPTOASSETS HKMA Launches Digital Bond Grant Scheme On 28 November 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the launch of the Digital Bond Grant Scheme (DBGS). The HKMA says the DBGS aims to promote the development of the digital securities market and encourage broader adoption of tokenisation technology in capital market transactions. Subject to the satisfaction of relevant eligibility requirements under the DBGS, a maximum grant of HKD2.5 million will be offered to each eligible digital bond issuance in Hong Kong. Following industry consultation, the HKMA has set out the details of the DBGS in the Guideline on the Digital Bond Grant Scheme. The DBGS has immediately started accepting applications, with an initial period of three years. Link to Guideline here Link to inSight: Eddie Yue on Project Evergreen: From concept to application here FCA Finds Crypto Ownership Continues to Rise as it Delivers Plans to Regulate Crypto On 26 November 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its latest research on consumer attitudes and behaviours towards crypto. The FCA says it has found that 12%of UK adults nowown crypto, up from10% in its previous findings. According to the FCA, awareness of crypto also rose from 91% to 93%. The average value of crypto held by people increased fromGBP1,595 to GBP1,842. Respondents told the FCA that information from family and friends was the most common source of information for those who had never bought crypto. Only 1 in 10 people say they did not do any research before buying crypto. The FCA says around a third of people said they believed they could raise a complaint with the FCA if something went wrong and were seeking recourse or financial protection. Currently, crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK and high-risk and the FCA says if something goes wrong, it is unlikely investors will be protected.