The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in financial markets and the regular activity of institutions requires constant monitoring of the integrity and regular functioning of financial markets and that authorities assess the need to adopt specific measures during this period.
In view of the developments observed during the recent weeks that have had relevant impacts on the entire economy, although different for the various sectors, and considering the uncertainty of the economic activity's evolution for the upcoming months and the recovery that will follow, the CMVM has been adopting a set of decisions and recommendations addressed to investors and to the various entities under its supervision aimed at helping them handle the current context.
The CMVM sets great store on four areas in particular: information quality for the market and investor protection, the monitoring and weighting of short and medium-term operational and financial risks; the careful assessment of regulatory and reporting obligations in the current context; and the issuing of guidelines on best practices, which value medium and long-term sustainability principles and sound corporate governance,
In this area you will find information on the CMVM's decisions and recommendations regarding:
On this page, the CMVM also makes available, information concerning the measures applicable to entities under its supervision that are being adopted by the various national and international authorities and updates it whenever necessary.
MEASURES ADOPTED BY THE CMVM
ISSUERS
The CMVM's guidelines and decisions for issuers include, among other aspects, information quality requirements that are relevant for investors and other interested parties, the weighting of medium and long term criteria in adopting decisions that impact in preserving a solid and resilient financing structure - for example, proposals on the distribution of dividends and share repurchases -, the entity's explanation as to how it is ensuring its operational resilience in the medium term, as well as recommendations regarding the holding of remote general meetings.
The CMVM's guidelines and decisions for issuing entities include, among other aspects, information quality requirements of relevance to investors and other interested parties, the substantiated reporting of decisions with an impact on the maintenance of a solid and resilient financing structure - where they include, for example, proposals for the distribution of dividends and share repurchases -, the explanation by each entity of how it is ensuring its operational resilience in the medium term, as well as recommendations regarding the holding of remote general meetings.
The deadlines for disclosing information to the market were also eased, allowing the respective coherence with the extension of the deadline for holding general shareholders' meetings until 30 June 2020, and applying uniform application criteria of IFRS 9 in calculating expected credit losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, is recommended.
Main decisions:
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
ASSET MANAGERS AND FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES The CMVM has monitored and supported the entities subject to its supervision, namely regarding the need to ensure the capability of complying with the legal and regulatory duties, identifying, reporting and overcoming any operational and market constraints, including the monitoring of the respective business continuity plans and ensuring that investors' rights are safeguarded.
In this context, and among other measures, the CMVM eased requirements for the provision of non-urgent information in the context of the crisis, which includes, for example, the reporting of internal control reports, reporting to transaction repositories, and reporting on money laundering. On the other hand, it reinforced reporting requirements regarding vital information for the daily assessment of impacts and risks arising from the current situation.
Main decisions:
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
In view of the risks and constraints that the current circumstances have placed on the audit activity, and seeking to support the auditors in the quality of their work, the CMVM recommended, for example, the adoption of alternative and appropriate procedures in the collection of evidence of the work carried out and or documents relevant to the rationale for statutory audit of account and reports, namely through the use of digital remote work tools. He also recommended that the assessment of the audited entity's business continuity risks should not be neglected, as well as the identification of economic perspectives and the direct impacts of the spread of Covid-19.
Main decisions:
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
REAL ESTATE VALUERS
In view of the restrictions imposed by the mandatory confinement resulting from the State of Emergency and the measures on social distance, the CMVM in order to mitigate the consequences of a possible interruption of real estate valuations and their impact on the real estate market, clarified the ways in which property evaluation should continue to be carried out, allowing the use of new technologies and inspections by third parties. The CMVM also eased the deadline for providing non-urgent information in the context of the crisis.
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
MONEY LAUNDERING In an effort to ease the regulatory burden in a context of operational complexity, the CMVM extended for three months, the mandatory periodic reporting of information on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism by the entities required to provide this information. However, it also warned that the exceptional and unprecedented situation experienced in the context of the pandemic increases the risks of the occurrence of atypical and suspicious phenomena, and thus, entities must ensure the operability of the control and monitoring systems.
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
INVESTORS AND REGULAR FUNCTIONING OF THE MARKET
The measures taken by the CMVM with an impact on the various entities under its supervision aim consequently, at safeguarding investors' rights and the integrity of the market wherein they participate. In addition to these measures, which include duties to provide information to investors and the strengthening of supervision, the CMVM also adopted and implemented a set of guidelines and practices focused specifically on the sound functioning of the market and investor protection.
These include the daily monitoring of market volatility, as well as short positions in national securities, assessing on a permanent basis the opportunity and consequences of possible temporary prohibitions on the constitution or strengthening of short positions on shares traded on the national market; the monitoring of market structures by supporting that markets remain open for investors to continue investing in, having access to liquidity, rebalancing portfolios and fulfilling their obligations.
Given the context of high uncertainty, which makes it difficult to weigh investment alternatives, the CMVM also issued a set of recommendations addressed to investors, which are highlighted in a separate area on the CMVM website, which includes advice as to investment decisions in contexts of high volatility, warnings on increased fraud risk, and several useful procedures for investors are clarified, namely in the context of general meetings.
Main decisions
(Further down the page you will find all ESMA decisions adopted in conjunction with national authorities, as well as by the Portuguese State and other international entities)
