Reverse solicitation and chaperoning

The request was partially successful.

Dear European Securities and Markets Authority,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Regarding the following supervisory briefing:
https://www.esma.europa.eu/document/mifi...

The briefing raises “the possibility that firms relocating into the EU from the UK would be managed as empty shells or letter box entities”
- Please provide any and all estimates as to the number of entities that are operating in this manner.
-Please provide any and all information as regard to the amount of supervisory attention paid to the issues raised in the briefing. This can take the form of, for example, the number of staff tasked with oversight of rule breaches in the area, or the frequency of contact with firms and CAs over the compliance with the rules.

Regarding the following public statement:
https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default...

- The number of investigations that Esma has conducted and/or is currently conducting into entities suspected of breaching rules around reverse solicitation.
- The date any and all breaches were discovered, and the enforcement action taken.
- Copies of any and all further information sent to individual financial institutions with regard to their obligations under Mifid II with regard to reverse solicitation. These can be redacted so as not to conflict with data protection principles.

Yours faithfully,

Justin Cash

Info ESMA, European Securities and Markets Authority

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Chrysi Raftogianni, European Securities and Markets Authority

On behalf of the Document Access Coordinator

 

Dear Justin Cash,

 

We are writing to you with reference to your request for information and
documents dated 20 May 2021 by which you had asked ESMA to provide you
with:

 

(a) in relation to the MiFID II Supervisory Briefing on the supervision of
non-EU branches of EU firms providing investment services and activities
(ESMA35-43-1493), (the Supervisory Briefing):

- “any and all estimates as to the number of entities that are operating
in this manner [i.e. “as empty shells or letter box entities”]”;

- “any and all information as regard to the amount of supervisory
attention paid to the issues raised in the briefing. This can take the
form of, for example, the number of staff tasked with oversight of rule
breaches in the area, or the frequency of contact with firms and CAs over
the compliance with the rules”.

 

(b) in relation to the Public Statement “Reminder to firms of the MiFID II
rules on ‘reverse solicitation’ in the context of the recent end of the UK
transition period” (ESMA35-43-2509), (the Public Statement):

- “[t]he number of investigations that Esma has conducted and/or is
currently conducting into entities suspected of breaching rules around
reverse solicitation”;

- “[t]he date any and all breaches were discovered, and the enforcement
action taken”;

- “[c]opies of any and all further information sent to individual
financial institutions with regard to their obligations under Mifid II
with regard to reverse solicitation”.

 

In reply to your request, we would like to point out that ESMA has not
been vested with direct supervisory powers on entities providing
investment services. Therefore, it does not possess any documents or the
specific information falling within the scope of your request.

 

For completeness, we also note that the two policy acts, namely the
Supervisory Briefing and the Public Statement, aim to provide indications
to firms and NCAs for the purposes of uniform interpretation and
implementation of the relevant MiFID II provisions. In this regard, they
constitute convergence tools towards the Authority’s objective of
fostering supervisory convergence pursuant to Regulation (EU) No
1095/2010.

 

 

Your sincerely,

Enrico Gagliardi

 

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