Yesterday, members of the EACB's financial markets working group convened to discuss their priorities and common positions with respect to three legislative topics.
The first part of the meeting focused on preparation with respect to the upcoming review by the European Commission of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) which is one of the main priority areas of the working group.
This was followed by the second part of the meeting whereby members exchanged views on the implementation of changes resulting from the EU Benchmarks Regulation and discussed the outcomes of the work of the ECB euro risk-free rate working group. The members also engaged with EMMI to better understand the status of the critical benchmarks under EMMI's administration.
Finally, the third part of the meeting involved a joint session with members of the EACB's green and sustainable finance working group and the Joint Research Committee (JRC) of the European Commission, in order to provide input on the work being undertaken by the JRC on the EU Ecolabel for Financial Products. The latter was an important exchange in the context of co-operative banks being mainly exposed to retail markets and because packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) are the first financial products being piloted in scope of the proposed label.