On January 31, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an opinion containing a revised set of draft regulatory and implementing technical standards (RTS/ITS) under the Securitization Regulation, which require certain information to be reported about securitizations by the originator, sponsor or special purpose entity. The opinion includes the format for making the required information available and reporting templates for different types of securitization.

ESMA had published a final report in August 2018, which contained the original draft RTS/ITS. The European Commission (EC) subsequently asked ESMA to make certain amendments in order to reduce the likely administrative burden on reporting entities.

In a press release accompanying the opinion, ESMA stated that it agreed with the EC’s request, and has accordingly amended the disclosure RTS/ITS to, among other things:

• Expand the ability for reporting entities to use the “No Data” options in the respective disclosure templates, in particular, in the templates for asset-back commercial paper securitizations;
• Adjust the content of certain fields in the templates; and
• Clarify the templates to be used to provide any inside information and significant events information affecting a securitization.

ESMA also published a related questions and answers document (Q&A). The Q&A covers technical issues on how to complete template fields. Since they are being provided before adoption of the RTS/ITS by the EC, ESMA states that they are subject to change.

The opinion has been submitted to the EC for endorsement.

The opinion is available here.

The Q&A is available here.

ESMA’s accompanying press release is available here.