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SFDR review: main outcomes of the consultation and priorities for the new Commission​​

SFDR review: main outcomes of the consultation and priorities for the new Commission​​

Day 1 Afternoon

Wednesday 11 September

Room :

ROOM 2

Speakers

Chair
Christophe Bories
Head of Service for the Financial Sector - Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, France
Public Authorities
Ugo Bassi
Director - Banking, insurance and financial crime - DG for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Agathi Pafili
Vice President, Head of Government Relations, Europe
Katarzyna Przewalska
Director, Financial Market Development Department - Ministry of Finance, Poland
Shaneera Rasqué
Regulatory policy affairs, ESG Coordinator for investment funds - Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)
Industry Representatives
Murat Bozdemir
Head of Regulatory, Climate, and Sustainability Data Product Solutions - Bloomberg
Vincent Damas
Group Head of Sustainability - CNP Assurances
Mitch Reznick
Group Head of Fixed Income - Federated Hermes (UK) LLP

Objectives

The SFDR (Sustainable finance disclosure regulation) started to be implemented in March 2021. The implementation of SFDR has raised some controversies and criticisms. In particular its 8 and 9 articles have been used like labels by financial investors, but the lack of clarity of these articles has backfired.

The European Commission launched a consultation in September 2023 on the implementation of SFDR, with a long list of questions, to prepare a reform of SFDR.

The session is devoted to discovering the main results of the consultation and outlining possible priorities for the European Commission’s agenda, given that convergent opinions were expressed on the main weaknesses of the SFDR, and that a large majority of respondents were in favour of sustainable product categories favouring an efficient distribution system. There were also calls for simplification. At the same time, the consultation gave rise to divergent recommendations for improvements to Articles 8 and 9.

Points of discussion: 

  • What the merits and the weaknesses revealed by the implementation of the SFDR?
  • What are the main outcomes of the consultation launched by the European Commission, and drawing on them what would be the recommendations to the new Commission?