In a Public Statement issued by the European
Securities and Markets Authority
("ESMA") on 18 March 2020, ESMA
acknowledges that it was made aware of the pressure being made on
the financial industry to comply with the new regulatory
obligations under Regulation 2015/2365
("SFTR") amidst the current challenging
times due to the COVID-19 virus.
Individual firms are taking actions to respond to the pandemic
to protect their business and employees' health. They need to
ensure core business continuity in extremely stressed market
conditions. The impact on the personnel, exacerbated by the
pressures on firms caused by increases in market volatility and
volumes, has thus seriously compromised the SFTR implementation
programmes.