Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 11 2025

3 QUICK LINKS AIFMD CBDC CRYPTOASSETS DIGITAL ASSETS FINTECH FSB MIFID/MIFIR (UK) IFR/IFD OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE OUTSOURCING SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ESG T+1 TOKENISATION ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE NETHERLANDS NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 11 | 2025 The assessed recommendations cover matters related to governance, conflicts of interest, fraud and market abuse, cross-border cooperation, custody, retail client protections, and disclosures. The Thematic Review highlights both the progress made in regulating crypto-asset markets and the key areas for continued progress, such as promoting greater consistency in implementation, reducing risks of regulatory arbitrage, and strengthening enforcement practices. IOSCO says that the Thematic Review notes that the fast-evolving crypto-asset ecosystem still harbours risks related to investor protection and market integrity and that the Thematic Review is a call for action for jurisdictions to take steps to monitor the existing and emerging risks and seek to fully implement the CDA Policy Recommendations, as early as possible. To this end, IOSCO will look to enhance its capacity building program, with the goal of facilitating knowledge sharing and assisting jurisdictions in their implementation efforts. IOSCO also note that as jurisdictions are still developing and implementing their regulatory frameworks for cross-border cooperation, the use of existing mechanisms for sharing information across borders remains relatively limited. With most major crypto-asset service providers having a global footprint, there is an increasing need for closer international cooperation. The Thematic Review recommends IOSCO to monitor developments and consider enhancements to promote information sharing, including improved cooperation mechanisms beyond enforcement. Link to Thematic Review here ESAs Warn Consumers of Risks and Limited Protection for Certain Crypto-assets and Providers On 6 October 2025, the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) issued a warning to consumers, reminding that crypto-assets can be risky and that legal protection, if any, may be limited depending on which crypto-assets they invest in. This warning is accompanied by a factsheet explaining what the new EU regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) means for consumers. The ESAs recommend concrete steps consumers can take to make informed decisions before investing in crypto-assets, such as checking if the provider is authorised in the EU. Consumers are recommended to: • Learn about the product or service and evaluate the risk before investing; • Check the provider of crypto-asset services is authorised in the EU; and • Make sure any wallets used to store their crypto-assets are sufficiently secured. The ESAs state that these steps are particularly important at a time when consumers’ interest in such products and services is on the rise, in part due to aggressive promotion on social media by finfluencers. The Joint ESAs factsheet provides an overview of what crypto assets are, which ones are regulated under MiCA and which ones are not, and the providers consumers may encounter. Link to ESAs Warning here Link to ESAs Factsheet here DIGITAL ASSETS ASIC Publishes Updated Guidance that Supports Digital Asset Innovation and Boosts Investor Protection On 29 October 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) stated in a media release that it had clarified how existing laws apply to digital assets, giving investors improved protections and providing firms with greater certainty to operate and innovate. ASIC also confirmed transitional support ahead of proposed law reforms. ASIC says that stablecoins, wrapped tokens, tokenised securities and digital asset wallets are among the digital asset products that it considers to be financial products in its updated guidance.