ECB published its opinion on the Prospectus Directive
31 May 2010
The ECB welcomes the current dialogue between the ECB, the competent authorities and the industry on the possibility of creating a standard for reference data on securities and issuers, with the aim of making such data available to policymakers and regulators.
The ECB welcomes the aim of strengthening investor protection, by making information in prospectuses simpler and easier to read. In particular for less standardised securities, such as assetbacked securities, and for other types of securities backed by collateral, in particular covered bonds, a well-defined summary including key information on the securities as well as on the parties involved, and a comprehensive liability regime concerning the information in the summary, would be useful to investors and regulators. This will ensure comparability not only between asset classes but also between securities within asset classes.
In this regard, the ECB very much welcomes the current dialogue between the ECB, the competent authorities and the industry on the possibility of creating a standard for reference data on securities and issuers, with the aim of making such data available to policymakers, regulators and the financial markets through an international public infrastructure. Such an infrastructure would provide all interested parties with the high quality data required to produce more timely and reliable analyses of increasingly complex financial markets, especially in times of turbulence.
As regards the disclosure of central banks’ lending operations under EU legislation, a clear legal framework should be put in place in order to facilitate the smooth and rapid conduct of central banks’ lending or other liquidity facilities, including in crisis situations, as highlighted by the recent financial crisis. In this regard, information on central banks’ lending or other liquidity facilities provided to a particular credit institution, including emergency liquidity assistance, needs to be kept confidential in order to contribute to the stability of the financial system as a whole and maintain public confidence in a period of crisis.
© ECB - European Central Bank
