News

11 July 2017

On 11 July 2017 the Council of the European Union published its conclusions on the European Commission Communication on the mid-term review of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan.

The full list of the Council’s conclusions can be accessed here; however, we would like to draw your attention to item 12 of this list in which the Council states that it “LOOKS FORWARD to examining the upcoming legislative proposal regarding a European framework for covered bonds, which should build on the continued well-functioning national regimes and strike the right balance between harmonisation and national specificities;”

The Council’s conclusions also make reference to a number of other files that are currently being followed by the EMF-ECBC including: the provision of credit to SMEs (items 6 & 13); the advance of FinTech (item 14); developing models of sustainable finance (item 15); cross-border investments and movement of capital (items 17 & 18); and supporting secondary markets for non-performing loans (item 19).

Also of note is item 20 which “UNDERLINES the importance of enhancing the efficiency of European financial markets as a whole, which implies striking the right balance between harmonised rules and the need to cater for local and regional market characteristics and to preserve well-functioning markets;”

Finally, the Council concludes by inviting the European Commission “to continue to report on the progress made, at least every six months, to the Council through the Financial Services Committee and the Economic Financial Committee, providing an evidence-based assessment of the progress made in the build-up of the Capital Markets Union, including on the basis of key indicators and evidence.”