Handelszeiten in Europa
-
-
ESMA assesses the risks posed by the use of leverage in the fund sector
ESMA assesses the risks posed by the use of leverage in the fund sector
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, today publishes its annual risk assessment of leveraged alternative investment funds (AIFs) and its first analysis on risks in UCITS using the absolute Value-at-Risk (VaR) approach. Both articles represent ESMA’s work to identify highly leveraged funds in the EU investment sector and assess their potential systemic relevance.
While most EU investment funds make limited use of leverage, a subset of AIFs are substantially leveraged, and a group UCITS using the absolute VaR approach has very high levels of gross leverage.
Risk assessment of leveraged AIFs shows that hedge funds display the highest levels of leverage, even though they represent a small part of the EU fund industry. The real estate (RE) funds are under pressure in some jurisdictions due to the combination of declining real estate prices and outflows from some funds, but in general the RE fund sector has been resilient at EU level. The assessment of GBP Liability-Driven Investment (LDI) funds, which gain leveraged exposures to the UK government bond market, shows that imposing limits to the interest rate risk they can take successfully increased the resilience of the sector, and even resulted in a decline of leverage for some funds.
In a new analysis, ESMA reports that UCITS using the absolute VaR approach to manage their risk profile account for around 8% of the UCITS universe. These funds follow a heterogeneous range of investment strategies and can increase their exposures using derivatives. Withing this group, a subset of funds shows risk profiles and characteristics more commonly associated with hedge funds, such as complex derivative exposures with high levels of gross leverage and heightened sensitivity to market conditions. These funds tend to be exposed to risks related to liquidity imbalances and complexity, and some have higher risks than hedge funds. While this subset is small (2% of the UCITS segment), they have a larger volume of assets than EU hedge funds.
The diversity of strategies and relatively fragmented manager base in the VaR UCITS segment reflects a dynamic market but also underscores the importance of close supervisory attention to ensure risks are properly understood and managed.
Further information:
Aleksandra Bojanić
Senior Communications Officer
press@esma.europa.eu24/04/2025 ESMA50-524821-3642TRV Article: Annual risk assessment of leveraged AIFs in the EU – 2024 24/04/2025 ESMA50-524821-3660TRV Article: Risks in UCITS using the absolute Value-at-Risk approach ESAs publish Joint Annual Report for 2024
ESAs publish Joint Annual Report for 2024
The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) today published its 2024 Annual Report, which provides an overview of the joint ESAs work completed during the past year.
The ESAs continued to explore and monitor potential emerging risks for financial markets participants and the financial system.
The main areas of cross-sectoral focus in 2024 were joint risk assessments, sustainable finance, operational risk and digital resilience, consumer protection, financial innovation, securitisation, financial conglomerates and the European Single Access Point (ESAP). Among the Joint Committee’s main deliverables were policy products for the implementation of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) as well as ongoing work related to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
Background
In 2024, ESMA chaired the Joint Committee with all three ESAs coordinating discussions and the exchange of information across their institutions, the European Commission and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).
The Joint Committee is a forum with the objective of strengthening cooperation between the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), collectively known as the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs).Through the Joint Committee, the three ESAs coordinate their supervisory activities in the scope of their respective responsibilities regularly and closely and ensure consistency in their practices.
Further information:
Aleksandra Bojanić
Senior Communications Officer
press@esma.europa.euESMA publishes latest edition of its newsletter
ESMA publishes latest edition of its newsletter
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has today published its latest edition of the Spotlight on Markets Newsletter.
Your one-stop-shop in the world of EU financial markets focused in February and March on the Warning on the use of AI for investing as well as on key files related to securitisation and central counterparties.
Despite their innovative potential and popularity, AI tools can generate advice that could be inaccurate or misleading and that may result in poor investment decisions and significant financial losses. In this context, ESMA and the national competent authorities (NCAs) have published a Warning and coordinated #AIInvestorAlert, an EU-wide social media campaign.
On supervisory convergence – ESMA fined Modefinance a total of €420,000, and issued a public notice, for a breach of the Credit Rating Agencies Regulation.
ESMA also released its Peer Review Report on NCAs’ supervision of Simple, Transparent and Standardised securitisations and, together with the European Supervisory Authorities, went out with recommendations to strengthen the overall effectiveness of Europe’s securitisation framework through simplification.
In addition, ESMA published its annual Peer Review Report on the supervision of EU Central Counterparties (CCPs) by NCAs and, together with the Bank of England, ESMA has signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and information exchange concerning the three CCPs established in the United Kingdom.
ESMA also finalised the rules explaining how investment firms should establish their order execution policies and assess their effectiveness and made recommendations to simplify ESG disclosure rules for benchmarks administrators
Other publications:
- 2024 European Common Enforcement Priorities Statement
- Clarifications on Consolidated Tape Provider for bonds
- Spring 2025 Joint Committee update on risks and vulnerabilities in the EU financial system
- First code package on the public code repository GitHub
The newsletter features a full overview of all publications, together with information on hearings and webinars. For updates, follow us on X and LinkedIn.
15/04/2025 ESMA NewsletterNewsletter February and March 2025 ESMA publishes implementing rules on Liquidity Management Tools for funds
ESMA publishes implementing rules on Liquidity Management Tools for funds
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, is publishing today the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and a final report on the Guidelines (GL) on Liquidity Management Tools (LMTs).
These provisions will make EU fund managers better equipped to manage the liquidity of funds, in particular in case of market stress. In addition, the draft RTS will also clarify the functioning of LMTs, such as the use of side pockets for which rules currently vary significantly across the EU. Through their role in mitigating financial stability risks, these rules are an important contribution to the ongoing debate on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation.
This publication is a key step in the implementation of the revised AIFMD and UCITS Directive and will facilitate the harmonisation and full availability of the LMTs defined in the Directives in all Member States.
Next steps
The draft RTS have been submitted to the European Commission (EC) for adoption. From the date of submission, the EC shall take a decision on whether to adopt the RTS within three months. The EC may extend that period by one month.
ESMA will translate the GL after the adoption of the draft RTS by the EC. Should the EC amend the draft RTS in a way that impact the GL, ESMA will adjust the GL to ensure full consistency between the RTS and the GL. Upon publication of the translations on the ESMA website, national competent authorities will have two months to notify ESMA whether they comply or intend to comply with the GL.
The GL will start applying on the date of entry into force of the RTS. Funds existing before the entry into force the RTS will have twelve months to comply with the GL.
Further information:
Dan Nacu-Manole
Communications Officer
press@esma.europa.eu
15/04/2025 ESMA34-1985693317-1160Final Report on the Guidelines on LMTs of UCITS and open-ended AIFs 15/04/2025 ESMA34-1985693317-1259Final Report on the Draft Regulatory Technical Standards on Liquidity Management Tools under the AIFMD and UCITS Directive New Q&As available
New Q&As available
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, has published or updated the following Questions and Answers:
European crowdfunding service providers for business (ECSPR):
- Bulletin Board - Disclosure obligations (point (b) of Article 25(3) of the ECSPR) (2501)
- Assessment of the entity to be considered as the project owner (2502)
Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)
- Registered AIFM and MICA (2397)
- Autotrading (2463)
▸ Questions and Answers section
-