The draft RTS fulfil a mandate conferred on the EBA in the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) and were developed in cooperation with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

MiCA mandates the EBA to develop technical standards and guidelines to specify the requirements for asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens.

The EBA is seeking consultation responses on its proposed Guidelines to redeem asset-referenced or e-money tokens in the event that an issuer fails to fulfil its obligations under MiCAR.

The proposed Guidelines subject to the consultation include the following:

• A clarification of the principles of redemption, such as equitable treatment of token holders.
• A description of the steps for the redemption plan, including the communication measures, the content of the redemption claims and the distribution plans.
• Addressing the scenario of pooled issuance wherein the same token is issued by multiple issuers.
• Considering the circumstances under which an authority is entitled to activate the plan, and the role that the prudential and resolution authorities will play in this.

Deadline for comments is 10 June 2024.

The joint final draft technical standards include:

• Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on ICT risk management framework and on simplified ICT risk management framework;
• RTS on criteria for the classification of ICT-related incidents;
• RTS to specify the policy on ICT services supporting critical or important functions provided by ICT third-party service providers; and
• Implementing Technical Standards to establish the templates for the register of information.

The package includes four draft regulatory technical standards (RTS), one set of draft implementing technical standards (ITS) and two sets of guidelines (GL). 

These policy instruments aim to ensure a "consistent and harmonised legal framework in the areas of major ICT-related incident reporting, digital operational resilience testing, ICT third-party risk management and oversight over critical ICT third-party providers."

Comments on this consultation can be sent to the ESAs via the consultation pages:

• Consultation on Joint draft technical standards on major incident reporting
• Consultation on Joint draft Guidelines on estimation of aggregated annual costs and losses caused by major ICT-related incidents
• Consultation on Joint draft RTS on subcontracting ICT services supporting critical or important functions
• Consultation on Joint draft RTS on the harmonisation of conditions enabling the conduct of the oversight activities
• Consultation on Joint draft guidelines on the oversight cooperation and information exchange between the ESAs and the competent authorities
• Consultation on Joint draft RTS specifying elements related to threat led penetration tests 

The consultation runs until 4 March 2024.

These draft RTS aim at "strengthening the management of conflicts of interest by issuers of ARTs and ensure convergence of requirements across the European Union."

Deadline for comments is 7 March 2024.

According to the EBA, the new guidelines "set clear expectations of the steps supervisors should take to identify and manage money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risks in this sector and are an important step forward in the EU’s fight against financial crime."

The amendments include guidance on the sources of information competent authorities should consider when assessing ML/TF risks associated with CASPs. They highlight the importance of a "consistent approach in setting supervisory expectations, where multiple competent authorities are responsible for the supervision of the same institutions. They also emphasise the importance of training so that staff from competent authorities have the technical skills and expertise necessary to carry out their roles."

The EBA will issue AML/CFT guidance for CASPs through forthcoming amendments to the EBA’s ML/TF Risk Factors Guidelines, and new Guidelines to prevent the abuse of fund and cryptoasset transfers for ML/TF purposes.

These ‘travel rule’ Guidelines specify the steps that Payment Service Providers (PSPs), Intermediary PSPs (IPSPs), cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) and Intermediary CASPs (ICASPs) should take to detect missing or incomplete information that accompanies a transfer of funds or cryptoassets.

They also detail the procedures these providers should put in place to manage a transfer of funds or a transfer of cryptoassets that lacks the required information.

Deadline for comments is 26 February 2024.

The consultations published today are on:

Draft regulatory technical standards on liquidity requirements and on draft Guidelines on liquidity stress testing of relevant issuers of tokens 

Draft technical standards on own funds requirements and stress testing of issuers 

Draft Guidelines on recovery plans for issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens 

Reporting of transactions with asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens denominated in a non-EU currency 

Draft technical standards on supervisory colleges 

Deadline for comments on all consultations is 8 February 2024.