On 12 January 2023, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued Circular C545 regarding its reviews on the quality of data reported to Trade Repositories under Article 9 (1) of EMIR ('the Reviews').

The purpose of the Reviews was to evaluate the quality and timeliness of data reported by Regulated Entities to Trade Repositories. The Reviews identified the following areas of concern that CySEC would like to emphasize to all Regulated Entities:

1. Misreporting of details of derivatives contracts
2. Incorrect status of derivative contracts
3. Collateralisation
4. Definition of "working day" for the purpose of determining the deadline for reporting
5. Rejections - Delegation of Reporting
6. Reconciliation of reports
7. Use of valid legal entity identifiers for counterparties that are legal entities.

CySEC urged Regulated Entities to regularly review their procedures in relation to EMIR reporting in order to ensure the data reported to Trade Repositories are complete, accurate, consistent, timely and not duplicated.

Regulated Entities not complying with their EMIR reporting obligation will be subject to enforcement action.

On 25 January 2023, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued Circular C546 to inform the Regulated Entities the following regarding their prudential reporting, i.e. Form 165-01 for Class 2 CIFs and Form 165-02 for Class 3 CIFs:

• CySEC shall submit to the European Banking Authority (the 'EBA') the supervisory and financial reporting data;
• all data submitted to the EBA according to the Decision shall be covered by the EU law framework of professional secrecy and confidentiality and protection of personal data as applicable to the EBA;
• access to this data shall be provided in conformity with the EBA Regulation;
• all prudential data shall be submitted by CySEC to the EBA in eXtensible Business Reporting Language ('XBRL');
• all prudential data submitted to CySEC from CIFs, will be submitted to EBA on a continuing basis every quarter.
• CySEC has implemented the CySEC XBRL portal in order to be able to accept submissions from CIFs.
• All Regulated Entities shall register to the above CySEC's XBRL portal, following the Manual for Registration by Monday, 30 January 2023 (Username used, should be the CIF's TRS Code).
• All Regulated Entities shall submit their prudential reporting from now on through CySEC XBRL portal by following the instructions in the Manual for Investment Firms Submissions using one of the two options available.
• All CIFs should continue to submit their prudential forms to CySEC using both systems (current TRS portal and the new CySEC XBRL portal) until the reporting, due for 30th June 2023 (submission due 11th August 2023), to facilitate this transitional period. Thereafter the submissions of the prudential forms will be made only through the CySEC XBRL portal.
• All Class 2 CIFs should also proceed to the submission of their prudential reporting through the CySEC XBRL portal by 31 January 2023 for the following dates as per Article 7 of the Decision:

• 31 March 2022 (that was submitted the latest by 12/05/2022)
• 30 June 2022 (that was submitted the latest by 11/08/2022)
• 30 September 2022 (that was submitted the latest by 11/11/2022)

The above submissions should be made for both the CIFs (Solo) and the Union parent investment firms, Union parent investment holding companies and Union parent mixed financial holding companies that are under the prudential consolidation of CySEC.

In addition, CySEC noted that reporting Based on Audited Figures both solo and consolidated, when deviate from the submitted unaudited figures, shall be submitted to CySEC XBRL Portal only, no later than five months from the end of each financial year, with reference date the 1^st day of the financial year.

On 16 January 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a common supervisory action (CSA) with National Competent Authorities (NCAs) on the application of MiFID II Disclosure Rules regarding to marketing communications across the European Union (EU).

Marketing communications and advertisements can play a key role in determining consumer behaviour and influencing investment decisions. ESMA being aware of that, launched this exercise to assess the application by investment firms and credit institutions of the MiFID II requirements on marketing communications.

Within the CSA framework, the NCAs will have to review if the marketing communications, including advertisements, are fair, clear and not misleading and the selection process of the target audience for the marketing communications by the firms, especially for the more risky and complex investment products.

Other parts of the CSA will be the closely consideration of marketing and advertising by firms through distribution channels and the collection of information regarding possible 'greenwashing practices' observed.

ESMA's belief is that this initiative and the related sharing practices across NCAs will help ensure consistent implementation and application of EU rules and enhance investors' protection in line with ESMA's objectives.

On 17 January 2023, the European Commission published the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) amending and correcting the RTS laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/587 as regards transparency requirements applicable to transactions in equity instruments.

The Delegated Act amends and includes provisions to improve and further harmonise data quality of post-trade transparency reports and to increase the level of pre-trade and post-trade transparency of exchange traded funds. More particular, the amendments are regarding:

1. The concept of 'non-price' forming transactions'
2. Pre-trade transparency and post-trade transparency for equity and equity like instruments
3. Data fields provided for in post-trade transparency reports
4. Delivery of data
5. The legal status of the 'hybrid systems'

The Delegated Regulation is not yet into effect. It will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

On 17 January 2023, the European Commission published the Commission Delegated Regulation amending the RTS laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/583 as regards certain transparency requirements applicable to transactions in non-equity instruments.

The Delegated Act amends RTS 2 and includes provision to improve and further harmonise data quality of post-trade transparency reports and to increase the level of pre-trade and post-trade transparency. More particular, the amendments are regarding:

1. The concept of 'non-price forming transactions'
2. Data fields provided for in post-trade transparency reports
3. Delivery of data
4. The legal status of 'hybrid systems'

The Delegated Regulation is not yet into effect. It will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

On 31 January 2023, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published a Consultation Paper on draft Joint Guidelines on the system for the exchange of information when assessing the fitness and propriety requirements.

The aim of the Joint Guidelines is to increase the efficiency of the information exchange between sectoral supervisors by harmonising practices and clarifying how competent authorities should use the information system developed by EBA, EIOPA and ESMA (i.e., ESAs).

The Joint Guidelines apply to competent authorities under the ESA's remit and contain the following two parts:

1. How competent authorities should input the data and how they use the ESA's information system, including a search process for the fit and proper assessments of persons of interest that had already been made by other competent authorities.
2. Once it has been identified that a relevant assessment has been made by another competent authority, clarifications are given on how the competent authorities should cooperate to exchange information.

The deadline for the submission of comments is on 2 May 2023.

On 12 January 2023, the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) published a joint thematic Report on national financial education initiatives on digitalisation with a focus on cybersecurity, scams, and fraud. Good practices that national competent authorities (NCAs) and other public entities can follow when designing and implementing their financial education initiatives are identified on the Report.

ESAs emphasized that a lack of financial literacy and unfamiliarity with digital technologies can increasingly lead to financial vulnerability and exclusion of consumers. Consumers are more at risk of becoming victims of scams and fraud without appropriate digital financial skills and the ability to ensure their cybersecurity.

Therefore, the ESAs have identified 12 good practices that can assist NCAs and other public entities increase the reach and effectiveness of their financial education initiatives and thereby help improve consumers' digital financial literacy.

The ESAs developed the Report in line with their mandate in Article 9(1)(b) of their respective Founding Regulations, which requires the authorities "to take a leading role in promoting transparency, simplicity and fairness in the market for consumer financial products or services across the internal market, including by reviewing and coordinating financial literacy and education initiatives by the competent authorities".

On 17 January 2023, the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) published its report on the proposed Directive amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point.

The report sets out the suggested amendments of the Committee to the proposed Directive and gives instructions to EU Member States to ensure that the information from centralised registries is available through a single access point to be developed and operated by the European Commission. In this manner, competent authorities can quickly establish if an individual holds accounts in several EU countries without multiple time-consuming queries.

The Members of the European Parliament highlight the importance of respecting an individual's right to privacy and the principle of data minimisation. They emphasize the need as well to gather bank account information proportionally to the needs of a specific ongoing investigation and that searches in the centralised bank registries should only be allowed in cases where the authorities would be allowed to conduct a similar search in national registries.

On 31 January 2023, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its updated consolidated list of ML/TF country assessment ratings. This list assesses the effectiveness and technical compliance of countries which have committed to implementing the FATF Recommendations.

The list should be read in conjunction with the detailed mutual evaluation reports.