Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 3 2025

2 QUICK LINKS CRYPTOASSETS CSDR EMIR FINTECH FSB OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ESG T+1 ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE IRELAND LUXEMBOURG NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 3 | 2025 CSDR ESMA Consults on Amendments to Settlement Discipline On 13 February 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a consultation on settlement discipline, with the objective of improving settlement efficiency across various areas. ESMA is consulting on a set of proposals to amend the technical standards on settlement discipline that include: • Reduced timeframes for allocations and confirmations; • The use of electronic, machine-readable allocations and confirmations according to international standards; and • The implementation of hold and release and partial settlement by all central securities depositories. ESMA says it also wants to gather stakeholders’ views on additional measures that could potentially enhance settlement efficiency, for which there are no specific policy proposals yet. The consultation period closes on 14 April 2025. ESMA expects to publish a final report and submit the draft technical standards to the European Commission by October 2025. Link to the Consultation here CSDR Refit: ESMA Publishes First Set of Technical Standards to Recalibrate and Clarify the Framework On 20 February 2025, ESMA published technical standards on different aspects of the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) Refit. The rules relate to the information to be provided by European CSDs to their national competent authorities (NCAs) for the review and evaluation process, to the criteria for assessing the importance of European CSDs in a host Member State and to the information to be notified by third-country CSDs. The technical standards are set out in three separate final reports: • The review and evaluation process of EU CSDs, where ESMA suggest a harmonisation of the information to be shared by CSDs for feeding the overall assessment of the competent authorities, plus a one-year implementing period for the new reporting items that will require an adaptation of the IT processes of CSDs. • The criteria under which the activities of an EU CSD in a host Member State could be considered of substantial importance for the functioning of the securities markets and the protection of investors. It includes details about the data collection process for the indicators needed to assess the substantial importance of European CSDs in a host Member State. This will be the basis to determine the CSDs for which colleges of supervisors have to be established. • The notifications from third-country CSDs , where ESMA is proposing to streamline the information to be notified, aiming for an accurate understanding of the provision of notary, central maintenance and settlement services in the EU. The CSDR Refit aims to fine-tune and clarify the CSDR framework. All the Final Reports considered the input from the relevant stakeholders and the cross-cutting effort of regulatory burden reduction when possible. The three final reports with the draft technical standards have been submitted to the European Commission for adoption. Link to the Technical Standards on Review and Evaluation Process here Link to the RTS on Criteria here Link to the RTS on Notifications from Third Country CSDs here