Ireland—Banking & Financial Services analysis: This article was written by A&L Goodbody’s Asset Management and Investment Funds Team. It covers European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) common supervisory action (CSA) findings on compliance and internal audit, EU reporting simplification initiatives, EU money market funds (MMFs) developments (including an ESMA stress test consultation), ESMA’s CSA on Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) sustainability aspects, and Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) developments on direct supervision.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published findings from its multi-firm review of liquidity risk management at wholesale trading firms, particularly brokers, under the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR). The review highlights the impact of recent stress events such as the COVID pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine war, and the failures of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank on firms' liquidity. It identifies both good and poor practices in liquidity risk management, emphasising the need for firms to update their stress assumptions and improve their risk management frameworks. Key findings include firms' failure to identify the full range of liquidity risks, underestimation of liquidity risk exposures, and reliance on immediate access to liquidity facilities. Actions taken by firms in scope of the review to address these issues include implementing remediation programmes and improving risk management frameworks.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched a consultation paper on its draft technical advice regarding the capital requirements for cryptoassets held by EU insurers. EIOPA highlights concerns over the lack of transparency, low liquidity, and extreme price volatility associated with cryptoassets and proposes introducing a 100% stress on cryptoassets without diversification, regardless of their balance sheet treatment and whether the exposures are direct or indirect. Responses are sought by 16 January 2025.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published policy recommendations to enhance the liquidity preparedness of non-bank market participants for margin and collateral calls in centrally and non-centrally cleared derivatives and securities markets, including securities financing such as repo. The recommendations aim to address liquidity strains in the non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) sector arising from spikes in margin and collateral calls during market stress.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published a whitepaper on 15 May 2025 examining collateral efficiency and liquidity resilience in global derivatives markets. The report, produced by ISDA's Future Leaders in Derivatives program, analyses how recent market stress events exposed weaknesses in collateral frameworks. It identifies three primary challenges: cost reduction, liquidity improvement and operational efficiency, while examining issues driven by regulatory complexity and market fragmentation. The paper proposes practical strategies to address these challenges within current regulatory frameworks.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) has published its assessment of market practice and regulatory policy for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. The issue considers navigating a technology transformation; stress and resilience in international capital markets; a shift in settlement cycle; sovereign bond market liquidity; EU government retail-targeted bond issuance; risk factors and disclosure in distributed ledger technology bond offering documents; the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation framework; and diversity, equity and inclusion in Italy.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has launched its Close-out Framework in response to the failure of Signature Bank and SVB in the United States. This new interactive digital framework is intended to be used as a preparatory resource to help firms coordinate internal business functions and stakeholders and internal and external legal, operational, risk management, infrastructure, and other relevant service providers to ensure they are adequately prepared for any potential future stress events.

A round-up of financial services developments.

Key information Safety of Nuclear Installations Directive Title Council Directive 2009/71/EURATOM of 29 June 2009 establishing a community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations (Safety of Nuclear Installations Directive) Entry into force 22 July 2009 Deadline for transposition 22 July 2011Note that the obligations of transposition and implementation of Articles 6, 8a, 8b, 8c and 8d do not apply to Member States without nuclear installations, unless they decide to develop any activity related to nuclear installations subject to a licence under their jurisdiction. National transposition measures See Eur-Lex information on national transposition measures, as provided by Member States Amending documents Council Directive 2014/87/Euratom of 8 July 2014 Subject Environment; nuclear installations; nuclear safety Nuclear safety—introduction Nuclear safety is a priority at EU level, given the scope for cross-boundary impacts in the event of a nuclear accident. This Practice Note provides an introduction to Council Directive 2009/71/EURATOM of 29 June 2009 establishing a community framework for the nuclear safety

A round-up of financial services developments.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has submitted a response to the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) consultation on the active account requirement (AAR) announced under the reviewed European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 3.0). ISDA raised significant concerns regarding the proposed reporting regime for AAR compliance monitoring, asserting that it exceeds necessary measures and contradicts the EU's recent commitment to reduce administrative burdens and also highlighted the ambiguities in certain operational requirements, particularly those related to stress testing.

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: The latest edition of Corporate Rescue and Insolvency (August 2026) is now available in Lexis+® UK (subscription required). This edition features, among other things, articles that explore the reinstatement of Crown preference, enduring corporate stress, limitation periods for unfair prejudice petitions, co-operation agreements in restructurings, cross-border insolvency and arbitration in Asia-Pacific, the Corporate Civil Enforcement Reforms, and the proposed EU Inc. insolvency framework.