Several pieces of legislations have been adopted over the past four years in order to make electronic payments safer, stimulate investment in the EU (be it through occupational pension funds, or improved access to finance for companies and simplified information for investors), and to improve corporate governance in companies whose securities are traded on EU regulated markets.

A number of these financial rules are coming into effect in 2019. Here is a quick roundup of what to expect this year.

1 January: Securitisation rules

The New Year started with the entry into application of securitisation regulation, which creates common EU rules and sets the criteria for simple, transparent and standardised (STS) securitisation. The new rules will significantly reform the EU securitisation market and are an important element of the capital markets union project. They should help provide additional funding sources for companies and free up bank lending so that more financing can go towards supporting households and businesses. The new rules will also help spread risks across market participants and make sure the excesses that led to the financial crisis can be avoided.

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13 January: IORP2

Also in January, a revised directive on occupational pension funds, known as IORP2, came into effect. The updated directive was adopted in December 2016 to encourage long-term investment through occupational pension funds. The aim of the new rules is to:

• Ensure that occupational pensions are sound and better protect members and beneficiaries of pension schemes;
• Ensure members and beneficiaries are better informed about their entitlements;
• Remove the obstacles that occupational pension funds face when operating across borders;
• Encourage these funds to invest long-term in economic activities that promote growth, employment and the environment.

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10 June: Shareholders' rights directive

The revised shareholder rights directive strengthens shareholder rights and sets out new requirements for intermediaries, institutional investors, asset managers and proxy advisors. It also redefines the remuneration policy for directors. The aim is to further strengthen the position of shareholders and make sure that decisions are made with the company’s long-term stability in mind. The updated rules amend the first shareholder rights directive, with the overall objective of improving corporate governance in companies whose securities are traded on EU regulated markets.

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As of 21 July: Prospectus regulation

The new prospectus regulation, which was launched as part of the capital markets union action plan to improve access to finance for companies and simplify information for investors, takes effect as of 21 July 2019. A prospectus is a document containing the information an investor needs to make the decision to invest or not in a company's securities (for example shares, bonds, derivatives). However, the prospectus regime has sometimes proved onerous and costly for businesses, especially smaller ones. Therefore, the goal is to improve the rules, specifically by:

• Making it easier and cheaper for smaller companies to access capital;
• Introducing simpler and more flexible rules for all types of issuers, particularly secondary issuances and frequent issuers that are already known to capital markets;
• Improving prospectuses for investors by introducing a retail investor-friendly summary of key information.

Read more on the prospectus regulation

14 September: strong customer authentication rules

Rules on strong customer authentication coming into effect in September will make electronic payments safer, both in shops and online. The rules are part of the revised payment services directive (PSD2), which was adopted in 2015 in response to the fast-paced evolution of the retail payments market led by fintech companies.

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