A proposal for an “ESAP”, a European Single Access Point, for financial and sustainability-related data on companies, was filed on Thursday by the European Commission. Touted as a cornerstone of the EU’s digital strategy, it is one of four new legislative proposals to help the envisioned Capital Markets Union (CMU) come closer to realisation.
A three-page fact sheet pdf about the ESAP project can be downloaded here.
“The ESAP will offer a single access point for public financial and sustainability-related information information about EU companies and EU investment products. This will give companies more visibility towards investors, opening up more sources of financing,” the European Commission writes in its press announcement.
Seemingly inspired by the United States’ EDGAR database, the single access point will make it easier for those who seek data that is reported by companies under EU regulation. But additionally, as the Commission states in the proposal document itself: “ESAP will also allow non-listed entities including Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to make available information on a voluntary basis. This will facilitate their access to capital.”
… and by the way, a MiFIR review
Beside the ESAP, the other three legislative proposals in Thursday’s CMU-related package were reviews of respectively …
• the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (including “consolidated tape”, two-page fact sheet here),
• the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), and
• the European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIFs) Regulation (new three-page fact sheet here).
An overview is here.
The European Commission promises that it will “follow up in 2022 with more CMU actions, including a proposal on listing, an open finance framework, an initiative on corporate insolvency and a financial competence framework”.