[author: Rebecca Grevitt]

The European Commission (“EC“) published on December 1, 2017 a report on the follow-up to its call for evidence on the EU regulatory framework for financial services. The report contains an update on progress on the initiatives relating to its call for evidence since the prior communication in November 2016.

The report sets out details of measures introduced following the call for feedback, including several ongoing initiatives that require further analysis. These include:

• the Commission’s work to monitor the application and impact of the outsourcing provisions in the Benchmarks Regulation;
• the study conducted by the European Commission as part of the capital markets union action plan to assess the distribution of retail products to retail investors across the EU. The European Commission indicated that it expects to publish final findings from the study at the start of 2018;
• the launch by the EBA of an IT tool aimed at promoting further proportionality in banking regulation. The idea is that the tool will help guide banks through relevant regulatory standards, provisions and templates in view of their specific size and business model; and
• the assessment by the European Commission of the proportionality of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (2011/61/EU). The outcome of the European Commission’s review is expected in 2018.

The report is available here.