Regulation
Joint EU guidelines on the suitability of members of the management body and shareholders for entities under the Crypto Markets Regulation | A&O Shearman
The European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority have published Joint guidelines on the suitability of members of the governing bodyand on the assessment of shareholders and members with qualifying holdings for asset-backed token issuers and crypto-asset service providers, under MiCAR. The guidelines are part of the EBA and ESMA’s ongoing efforts to promote a transparent, safe and well-regulated crypto-asset market and complement the recently published governance package.
The first set of guidelines addresses the presence of suitable management bodies within ART and CASP issuers, helping to increase trust in the financial system. Having robust governance arrangements in place will foster trust in such assets and services, supporting the development of a healthy crypto-asset ecosystem. It provides common criteria to assess the knowledge, skills, experience, reputation, honesty and integrity of the members of the management body, as well as whether they can devote sufficient time to carry out their duties to ensure the sound management of these entities.
The second set of guidelines concerns the assessment of the suitability of shareholders or members with direct or indirect qualifying holdings in a supervised entity. This assessment is a key aspect of the gatekeeping function exercised by supervisory authorities, considering the significant influence that these persons may exercise on the management of the supervised entity. It provides competent authorities with a common methodology to assess the suitability of shareholders and members with direct or indirect qualifying holdings for the purposes of granting authorisation as issuers of ARTs or as CASPs and to carry out the prudential assessment of proposed acquisitions. The guidelines will apply two months after their publication in all official EU languages on the EBA and ESMA websites.
[View source.]