Several regulatory changes impacting securities markets are to be implemented
The local Slovenian regulatory environment related to securities markets is expecting the adoption of several local law amendments and European Directives. The main local law that regulates securities markets (Market in Financial Instruments Act) will be amended, as well as the main law that regulates local banks (Banking Act). The main upcoming regulatory changes are related to establishing a regulatory framework for DLT and crypto-asset markets, while a noticeable impact on securities custody services is not expected.
Amendment of Market in Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-1), Amendment of Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (ZPPDFT-2), Amendment of Banking Act (ZBan-3), Implementation of Regulation 2022/858 (DLT Pilot Regime), Implementation of Regulation 2023/1114 on Cryptocurrency Markets (MiCA), and Implementation of Regulation 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA) are planned.
The Amendment of the Market in Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-1) refers to the change in the definition of a financial instrument due to Regulation 2022/858 (DLT Pilot Regime) which amends the MiFID II directive. Financial instruments are also instruments that are issued based on distributed technology records as defined in Regulation 2022/858/EU.
The Amendment of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (ZPPDFT-2) includes additional KYC requirements for Politically Exposed Persons (source of wealth) and requirements for remote verification of customer identity, while the Amendment of the Banking Act (ZBan-3) concerns administrative sanctions for banks.
The Implementation of Regulation 2022/858 (DLT Pilot Regime) regards the Regulation that introduces three new types of DLT market infrastructures, such as DLT multilateral trading facilities (DLT MTF), DLT settlement systems (DLT SS), and DLT trading and settlement systems (DLT TSS). It is possible that this Regulation will not be implemented in Slovenia (provided that appropriate permissions are granted on the EU level) since there is no interest by Slovenian market infrastructure and market participants to provide solutions based on DLT.
The last regulatory changes cover the Implementation of Regulation 2023/1114 on Cryptocurrency Markets (MiCA) and the Implementation of Regulation 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA).
