Securitisation and Structured Finance

Short Reads - Traditionally, 1 January (and 1 July) each year is a date on which new Dutch financial regulations enter into force. This year, the amendments to the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht – “Wft”) are relatively few, but other notable developments are worthy of attention.

Inside Stibbe - Stibbe in Amsterdam is proud to welcome Marieke Driessen as a partner in its Financial Markets Group. With Marieke’s arrival, Stibbe’s Financial Markets practice in Amsterdam will grow to six partners as of January 1, 2021.

Short Reads - Het Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) benadrukt opnieuw het toenemende belang van klimaatverandering voor centrale banken en toezichthouders. Klimaatverandering leidt tot financiële risico’s en dat betekent dat centrale banken en toezichthouders klimaat- en milieugerelateerde risico’s in hun beleid en toezicht moeten integreren.

Short Reads - Op 22 juni 2020 is de Europese taxonomieverordening (Verordening (EU) 2020/282) gepubliceerd. De verordening wordt gezien als een mijlpaal voor de verduurzaming van de financiële sector. De Europese Commissie ziet het herstel en de wederopbouw van de economie na de coronacrisis als een kans voor een fundamentele verandering naar een duurzame economie.

Short Reads - A massive stock market rally recently suddenly developed with respect to GameStop’s shares, a moribund chain of video game stores in the United States. The instigators: users of the investment forum r/wallstreetbets on Reddit. On 17 February 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority delivered its strongest warning yet about the risks of using social media for investing, cautioning that any effort to coordinate trades online could violate EU market abuse regulations.

Short Reads - Requirements applicable to outsourcing (including intra-group arrangements as well as outsourcing to the cloud) under Dutch and EU financial regulatory regimes have become more stringent in recent years. Outsourcing has therefore been a priority on the Dutch regulators’ supervision agenda.

Short Reads - Financial institutions may outsource critical or important functions to cloud service providers (“CSPs”). On 25 February 2019 the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) provided guidelines (the “EBA Guidelines”) laying out the framework for outsourcing arrangements. The EBA Guidelines require institutions to have a comprehensive, documented and sufficiently tested exit strategy (including a mandatory exit plan) when they outsource critical or important functions.

Inside Stibbe - Luxembourg, 17 January 2020 – Stibbe reinforces its corporate & finance and asset management/funds practices in Luxembourg with the hire of Bernard Beerens (corporate partner), Audrey Jarreton (banking and finance counsel), Edouard d’Anterroches (investment funds partner), Victorien Hémery (investment funds partner), and Dayana Bert (investment funds counsel). Their arrival comes after the recent hire of tax partner Johan Léonard. All of these new additions demonstrate the firm’s commitment to expanding Stibbe’s service offering in Luxembourg.