ESMA sees small decrease in EEA prospectus approvals in 2020

ESMA found that the number of prospectus approvals across the European Economic Area (EEA) dropped by almost 5% compared to 2019, which appears to indicate that the Covid-19 crisis did not have the anticipated impact on approvals. In addition, only Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and Norway’s Finanstilsynet imposed prospectus related sanctions in 2020 with the majority imposed by the FSMA.

Prospectus Activity

• around 46% of prospectuses approved were in the form of base prospectuses and 91% were drawn up as single documents as opposed to tripartite prospectuses;
• slightly more than 78% of prospectuses approved in 2020 related to non-equity securities with the most frequent security type being debt securities with a denomination of at least €100,000;
• the number of EEA prospectuses passported to one or more host countries decreased by around 6% relative to 2019; and
• Luxembourg and Germany accounted for most prospectuses passported to other EEA countries in 2020.

Prospects Sanctions

• 58 administrative sanctions and other administrative measures were imposed by NCAs for infringements of the Prospectus Regulation, of which 57 were issued by the FSMA,  mainly related to offerings of securities without the prior publication of a prospectus

These reports provide information about trends in the prospectus area, which are available here.