June 2, 2023 The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT), in collaboration with the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), has issued a call for evidence to support the review of the UK’s non-financial reporting requirements. The review aims to ensure the UK’s non-financial reporting framework continues to meet the needs of investors, stakeholders, and the…

May 28, 2023 XBRL EU urges digital for sustainability disclosures at a meeting in Rome this week. At the very successful XBRL-EU conference in Rome earlier this week, the attendees heard a range of details about the upcoming implementation of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (or ESRSs) via the CSRD, or Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.…

May 28, 2023 This week the European Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on the timeline and processes for establishing the European single access point (ESAP), a common data platform that will merge digital data crucial for capital markets, financial services, and sustainable finance from across Europe. The ESAP initiative was initially proposed by the EU…

May 21, 2023 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed a new rule proposal Electronic Submission of Certain Materials Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; Amendments Regarding the FOCUS Report, which would introduce XBRL for certain reports. The new rule would require electronic filing and XBRL-based structured data for certain forms, including…

May 16, 2023 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published the draft Open-End Fund Taxonomy and taxonomy guide for public review. Files are available at https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/dera_taxonomies. Sample filings using the draft OEF taxonomy can be found at https://xbrl.sec.gov/oef/2023/oef23-samples-2023-05-02.zip. Comments must be received by June 5, 2023. To find out more details please visit : https://www.xbrl.us/

May 12, 2023 The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted welcome amendments that requires open-end funds (OEF) to prepare concise, visually engaging, iXBRL tagged annual and semi-annual reports for investors and shareholders. This week, the SEC took an important step towards the implementation of that rule with the publication of a draft taxonomy. Until…

May 12, 2023 Share buybacks are a significant chunk of US market demand for stocks, amounting to more than $1.25 trillion in 2022. Issuers use buybacks to return capital to shareholders, in some ways turning public markets upside down: traditionally companies come to stock exchanges to raise capital, not return it. They are also an…

In September 2022, the FCA sent a portfolio letter to benchmark administrators where the FCA highlighted the risk of poor disclosures for ESG benchmarks. High quality ESG benchmarks are important to support trust in the market for ESG products and the transition to a net zero economy. The FCA have now completed a preliminary review on…

While there has been a lot of focus on climate relate disclosures in recent years, the past year saw some significant import placed on biodiversity and nature in the wider sustainability realm. The TNFD, or Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, is an international initiative that aims to establish a framework for companies and financial institutions to…

The Financial Reporting Council has issued a joint statement with the FCA, the BoE and the TPR welcoming the Government’s update to the Green Finance Strategy, which recognises the role of the financial sector in delivering global and domestic climate and environmental objectives to ensure the UK is a leading centre of Green Finance. The FRC…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday rejected a Republican proposal to prevent pension fund managers from basing investment decisions on factors like climate change, in the first veto of his presidency. “I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden…

This week the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), together with the European Central Bank (ECB) published a statement encouraging disclosure standards for climate-related data on securitised assets. The ECB and ESAS argue that there is a lack of climate-related data on the assets underlying structured finance products, posing an obstacle to the proper assessment of climate-related risks…