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In its version of the sustainable finance proposal on disclosure obligations, the Council deleted a provision to give the Commission the power to implement rules relating to ESG risks for pension funds, via so-called delegated acts.
Instead, the Council’s text refers to requirements “in accordance with” IORP II. It also introduces a provision specifically aimed at pension funds, with a new article entitled “Transparency by IORPs and insurance intermediaries”.
This links various disclosure obligations in the EU’s sustainable finance legislative proposal with a provision in the IORP II directive relating to how information should be made available to prospective and existing members and beneficiaries.
PensionsEurope lobbied against the delegated act provision, and Matthies Verstegen, a senior policy adviser, welcomed the Council’s text.
“We believe better disclosures on sustainability considerations, without prescriptive delegated acts on how to integrate them, is meaningful progress without the regulator impinging on the role of the fiduciary,” he said.
Eleni Choidas, senior EU affairs officer at campaign organisation ShareAction, said the deletion of the delegated acts provision for IORP II was “a big disappointment”.
However, the European Parliament has maintained the delegated acts provision in its version of the text – although an amendment to remove it was only narrowly defeated last month.