European policy-makers are moving swiftly to scale back the scope and burden of corporate sustainability reporting. Specifically, in recent weeks, two parallel developments—one political, the other technical—have introduced...more
6/30/2025
/ Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Parliament ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Voluntary Disclosure
His Majesty’s Treasury issued consultation paper—and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Call for Input—in April, setting out proposals for a revised regime under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM)...more
5/7/2025
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Diversity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Investment Funds ,
MiFID II ,
Private Equity ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
UK
On February 26, the European Commission released a series of key proposals and communications to reshape the European Union’s (EU) regulatory framework. Alongside the overall framework communication Clean Industrial Deal, the...more
The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which came into force on 25 July 2024, represents a significant step by the European Union (EU) to integrate sustainable practices into the core operational...more
His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have issued publications that seek to expand the application of the United Kingdom (UK) sustainability disclosure requirements (the SDR) and labelling...more
5/29/2024
/ AIFM ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Greenwashing ,
IFRS ,
Opt-In ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Retail Investors ,
Sustainability ,
UK
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published its first sustainability disclosure standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 (Standards), on 26 June 2023 with the aim of improving the disclosure and transparency of...more
On 14 April 2023, the European Commission published its responses1to the questions2raised by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) on a number of areas of uncertainty in the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation...more
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued proposed rules to establish a U.K. sustainability disclosure regime (SDR) providing a U.K. take on a topic many investment managers have been dealing with in...more
11/8/2022
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment Management ,
Proposed Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
UK
The SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation: Key Developments and What Firms Can Expect in the Coming Year -
Almost a year on from the date on which the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into...more
1/27/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Discussion Draft ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Reporting ,
Product Labels ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
UK
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a Discussion Paper (DP21/4) (the “DP”) seeking industry participants’ views on the proposed new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and an accompanying sustainability...more
12/9/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Product Labels ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) ,
UK
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors continue to play an increasingly significant role across the capital markets and have an impact on a range of financial instruments and products. We have previously written...more
9/20/2021
/ Capital Markets ,
Corporate Finance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Green Bonds ,
Green Finance ,
ISDA ,
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Finance
In this episode, the first in our three-part EU ESG Considerations for Beginners miniseries, Akin Gump financial regulatory partner Ezra Zahabi looks at the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and what it means...more
8/4/2021
/ AIFM ,
Alternative Investment Funds ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment Firms ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
MiFID ,
Portfolio Companies ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
Transparency
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published on 23 July 2021 the guidance provided by the European Commission (EC) in response to a number of questions posed by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) in...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to the Chairs of Authorised Fund Managers (AFMs) with respect to its expectations on the quality of information provided to investors of investment funds focused on investing...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a “Dear Chair” letter (here) (the “Letter”) setting out its “Guiding principles on design, delivery and disclosure of ESG [environmental, social and governance features]...more
In this episode, which concludes our three-part EU ESG Considerations for Beginners miniseries, Akin Gump financial regulatory partner Ezra Zahabi looks at EU ESG developments and risks and what business should know about...more
7/15/2021
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investors ,
Risk Mitigation ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
Taxonomy
In this episode, the second in our three-part EU ESG Considerations for Beginners miniseries, Akin Gump financial regulatory partner Ezra Zahabi looks at the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation and what it means for business.
Among...more
7/1/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investors ,
Sustainability ,
Taxonomy
This special episode features “Emergence of ESG Transparency,” a webinar featuring two heads of Akin Gump’s ESG group—partners Stacey Mitchell in D.C. and Amy Kennedy in London—along with London partner Ezra Zahabi.
Among...more
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have published the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (“Taxonomy RTS”) on product-level disclosures that apply to funds or portfolios that promote or make environmentally...more
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have published the final draft of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which set out the detailed disclosure...more
European financial supervisory authorities have requested the European Commission to clarify key areas of ambiguity regarding the scope and application of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), including its...more
1/18/2021
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Popular ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability
In this episode recorded in late February, Akin Gump financial regulatory partners Helen Marshall and Ezra Zahabi, using Akin Gump’s recently published In Principle annual report as a springboard, discuss what U.K. authorized...more
4/2/2020
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Climate Change ,
Contingency Plans ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Executive Compensation ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investment Management ,
No-Deal Brexit ,
Pension Schemes ,
Public Sector ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Shareholders ,
Sustainability ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
Welcome to the 2020 edition of In Principle. With the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (EU) on31 January 2020, and moving into a transition period which will last until 31 December 2020, Brexit of courselooms...more
1/30/2020
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Asset Management ,
Certifications ,
Climate Change ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EMIR ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
EU Benchmark Regulation ,
EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU MAR) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Firms ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Libor ,
Market Abuse ,
National Competent Authorities (NCA) ,
Personal Liability ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Senior Managers ,
SFTR ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Sustainability ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
In the 2018 edition of this publication, we ended the introduction with the line, “We can only hope that we will enter 2019 with greater certainty than 2018 as to how the regulatory landscape will look.” Unfortunately,...more
1/31/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Asset Management ,
Banking Sector ,
Benchmarks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation Agreements ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
EMIR ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU MAR) ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Infrastructure ,
Libor ,
Market Abuse ,
Market Infrastructure ,
Securities Financing Transactions (SFTs) ,
SMCR ,
Sustainability ,
UK Brexit