ESMA Final Report On Summaries And Final Terms Under The Prospectus Directive

As we reported in our earlier alert,¹ the European Securities and Markets Authority was required to deliver, by 30 September 2011, its final technical advice to the European Commission in relation to possible delegated acts under the amended Prospectus Directive. Its advice came in a few days late,² which fuelled hopes in some people that this signalled a re-think of many of the more radical proposals in their June 2011 Consultation Paper. These hopes have proven largely unfounded and very few of the responses received to the consultation have resulted in a change of position from ESMA.

We have drawn out, in the following paragraphs, some of the more notable comments and responses in respect of the technical advice on the format of final terms and summaries.