ESMA: Supervisory briefing – provisions of Copy Trading Services

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published last week, a supervisory briefing on firms offering copy trading services, in accordance with its objective of fostering investor protection and actively promoting supervisory convergence across the Union. This briefing...

CySEC – New guidelines on certain aspects of the compliance function requirements

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) on 14th of March released new guidelines on certain aspects of the compliance function requirements. These guidelines aim to ensure common, uniform, and consistent application of legal requirements related to compliance...

Recent changes to FATF grey list: South Africa and Nigeria added

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global anti-money laundering watchdog that monitors and assesses countries’ efforts in combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Recently, on 24 February 2023, FATF added, among others, South Africa and Nigeria to its...

European Council: Updated list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

On February 14, 2023, the European Council added Russia, the BVIs (British Virgin Islands), Costa Rica, and the Marshall Islands to its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. This move reflects concerns over these countries’ tax transparency and anti-money...

New Guidelines by CySEC for Form CBRT-CIF

In continuation of Circular C537, CySEC issued Circular C539 which indicates that the CIFs that do not reach the materiality threshold of 50 retail clients (including clients treated as professionals on request), in each EEA country should inform the Commission accordingly....

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines: New important restrictions for forex brokers

  A formal notice was published last Friday, January 6, by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG) regarding a new set of requirements for Business Companies (BCs) and Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) engaging in FOREX business...

ESMA’s initial analysis of the implications that FTX’s collapse might have on crypto-assets market

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published their latest newsletter for November 2022, #ESMA “Spotlight on Markets”, in which there is a reference on the opening statement of Steffen Kern (ESMA Head of Risk Analysis and Chief Economist), who...