On 13 February, ESMA published a consultation on the disclosure templates in which it proposes a uniform template for private transactions with data at transaction level. This follows a field-by-field review in 2023 and a consultation on the general further approach at the beginning of last year (see TSI kompakt of 22 March 2024). The new consultation comes as something of a surprise, as ESMA had only recently announced that it would wait for the European Commission’s ongoing Level 1 review before taking any further significant steps (see TSI kompakt of 20 December 2024).
Therefore, there appears to be sufficient consensus regarding the approach to Article 7 of the securitisation regulation (transparency requirements), so that the amendment process at Level 2 level, i.e. the RTS and ITS on the disclosure templates, is now being initiated in parallel.
Fundamentally correct direction taken – coherent in detail?
We very much welcome ESMA’s proposal to introduce a standardised private template, as it follows our feedback to ESMA and the EU Commission from last year. However, we still need to work out whether the proposal is consistent in detail. On first reading, there are still question marks over some sections (e. g. the treatment of ABCP transactions). In addition, the market data contained in the consultation does not appear to be complete (see market data from the European Benchmark Exercise).
Next Steps
As TSI, we will closely follow the consultation and work with our partner network to provide detailed feedback to help turning ESMA’s fundamentally correct proposal into real progress in terms of efficiency, market overview and reducing bureaucracy in the securitisation sector. The consultation ends on 31 March 2025.