Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 5 2025

9 QUICK LINKS AIFMD (UK) CRYPTOASSETS DATA EMIR FINTECH FSB IOSCO MARKET ABUSE REGULATION MICA MIFID II/MIFIR SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ ESG ASIA PACIFIC AUSTRALIA EUROPE LUXEMBOURG NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 5 | 2025 SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ESG ESMA Consults on Rules for ESG Rating Providers On 2 May 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a Consultation Paper on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) under the ESG Rating Regulation. ESMA says that the draft RTS cover the following aspects that apply to ESG rating providers: • The information that should be provided in the applications for authorisation and recognition; • The measures and safeguards that should be put in place to mitigate risks of conflicts of interest within ESG rating providers who carry out activities other than the provision of ESG ratings; and • The information that they should disclose to the public, rated items and issuers of rated items, as well as users of ESG ratings. ESMA says that it will consider the feedback received to the consultation by 20 June 2025 and expects to publish a Final Report and submit the draft RTS to the European Commission for adoption in October 2025. Link to Consultation here FCA Update on the Extension of SDR to Portfolio Management On 29 April 2025, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its webpage on CP24/8: Extending the SDR regime to Portfolio Management, published in April 2024. In February 2025, the FCA announced that it no longer intends to publish a Policy Statement following the consultation. The FCA says this is because it wants to ensure that the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime for portfolio managers protects consumers, whilst considering the practical challenges firms may have in adopting the regime. The FCA says it has reflected on the feedback it received via written responses and stakeholder engagement and has also considered wider regulatory work affecting portfolio managers. The FCA says that, overall, there is broad support for extending SDR to portfolio management, with most respondents agreeing this is an important step toward improving consumer outcomes. However, the FCA wants to take time to carefully consider the challenges and ensure that portfolio managers are positioned to implement the regime effectively before introducing requirements. The updated webpage goes on to outline a summary of the key feedback the FCA received to CP24/8, the relevance of its forthcoming multi-firm review on model portfolio services, and the next steps for this work. Link to the Webpage here