Reference is made to the consultation on changes to the Euronext Growth Oslo Rule Book Part II and notices, as published on 14 February 2022.  The main and material amendments relate to Euronext Growth Advisors. Oslo Børs has also conducted a complete review of the Euronext Growth Oslo Rule Book Part II in relation to definitions, language, references and clarification of ambiguities. Notice 2.2 is also updated, and notice 2.3 will be replaced with a new notice 2.3 which contains more extensive guidance and information.

The consultation period is now over. There have been made some further adjustments and clarifications as a result of the consultation. The changes in the rules have been resolved by Oslo Børs in accordance with such. The changes will enter into force on 9 May 2022. The updated rule book and notices, and the DD form, EGA Agreement and updated application forms (EGA and admission to trading) are available on Euronext’s websites. Mark-up versions of the documents follow below.

Today, we announce that Antonio Caroselli has been appointed as CEO of Gatelab, part of the Euronext group, as of Friday 1 April 2022.

 

Following the retirement from his position as CEO of Gatelab, we are pleased to announce that Ferdinando La Posta will remain a member of the Board of Directors of Gatelab.

 

Antonio Caroselli, the newly appointed CEO of Gatelab, said: "I am really glad and honored to hold the role of new CEO within the company of which I was co-founder together with Ferdinando La Posta, my long-term brotherly friend, to whom goes my deepest appreciation for his valuable job through the years, always carried out with the utmost commitment and professionalism.

At the same time, with renewed energies, I am ready to face the new challenges awaiting Gatelab within new technologies applied to the international financial markets. Ad maiora semper!"

Euronext presented the results of its new ESG questionnaire highlighting that issuers are on their way to ESG maturity, but need support in key areas.

In March 2022, Anthony Attia, Global Head of Primary Markets and Post Trade at Euronext, participated in a roundtable focused on ESG and European SMEs, as part of the seminar “Accelerating the ESG transition of SMEs in Europe”. The seminar was organised by the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) Group, Eurofi and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

On this occasion, Anthony Attia presented the results of Euronext’s ESG self-assessment questionnaire. The free online tool was launched in September 2021, with the objective of helping companies, public or private, understand their level of ESG maturity and performance.  

The roundtable was moderated by Christophe Bourdillon, Managing Director of CDC Croissance. He was joined by Sylvie Goulard, Deputy Governor of the Banque de France, Aude Contamin, Responsible for European Small and Midcaps at CDC Croissance, and Luc Hendrickx, Member of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG).

Anthony Attia, Global Head of Primary Markets and Post Trade at Euronext, Aude Contamin, Responsible for European Small and Midcaps at CDC Croissance, Christophe Bourdillon, Managing Director of CDC Croissance, Sylvie Goulard, Deputy Governor of the Banque de France, Luc Hendrickx, Member of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), at the CESE on 10 March 2022.

Euronext stands at the crossroads between the thousands of investors that are connected to our platform, and the approximately 2,000 issuers listed on our seven markets. In the context of mounting regulatory obligations, driven by the implementation of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), ESG is at the centre of many of our daily interactions with investors and issuers active on our markets.

We strive to support our clients, and in particular our SMEs, in their ESG journey with a set of advisory tools designed to help them communicate effectively with their shareholders and navigate the complex European regulatory environment. Via our pre-IPO programmes TechShare and FamilyShare, we also support companies aspiring to go public with dedicated ESG modules, with a strong focus on governance.

Euronext also works closely on ESG with large-cap companies, especially with the launch of ESG versions of its benchmark national indices, all driven by strong investor demand. The CAC 40 ESG and MIB ESG were launched in 2021, and the AEX ESG and the OBX ESG this year.

Issuers are well aware of ESG challenges

114 public and private companies, including large-caps and SMEs from across Europe, took the survey between September 2021 and March 2022. 72% of the respondents are listed companies, of which close to half are SMEs (companies with market capitalisation of less than €1 billion). The results have been crucial in helping us better understand the needs of both listed and private companies, to offer them the best possible support.

Main takeaways are:

• Most companies are active on ESG but the majority admit that there is room for improvement in their ESG strategy. Only 11% of respondents consider themselves as “very advanced”

• The pressure from stakeholders is increasing: 96% of companies reported being challenged by at least one stakeholder on their sustainability strategy. Enquiries were most frequently from shareholders, investors and banks (60% of respondents), clients (35%) and employees (32%).

• All companies encounter the same key challenges: they highlighted a general lack of resources and difficulty in identifying the appropriate ESG criteria to be disclosed. The absence of dedicated tools for the collection of ESG data is also a significant issue.
  
  The lack of ESG tools and internal organisation resources affects SMEs particularly, since the survey found that over 40% of SME respondents do not yet publish completed ESG reporting surveys, and only 39% of respondents have a certified sustainability strategy – although this will become mandatory, for large-cap companies at least, under the upcoming CSRD Directive.

• Final ESG scores vary widely depending on the profile of companies: listed Large Caps obtain the best scores, with 30% ranked as “Advanced”, whereas this is the case for only 5% of SMEs. No non-listed companies obtain an “Advanced” score.

Finding support is key

Overall, the level of ESG maturity of European companies is progressing. However, many of them, particularly SMEs, struggle to implement the structural organisation and process changes required to meet new reporting and transparency obligations.

A lack of control, lack of data and difficulties in steering ESG performance can impact both a company’s valuation and its reputation, and can ultimately lead to a risk of divestment.

Today, there is a very strong desire among listed SMEs for further support in their ESG transition. This need will only increase in the coming years with the implementation of the SFRD and the CSRD, as all listed companies will need to be on the same footing in terms of ESG reporting.

With this in mind, all companies, but particularly SMEs, should already be organising themselves and putting in place dedicated ESG resources, whether internal or outsourced. This is where Euronext’s ESG Advisory offering can help, as it is designed to support issuers and companies considering a listing in meeting their ESG obligations.  

Euronext is also working on other types of support for issuers in their ESG trajectory, such as helping increase their visibility with investors. As part of our ‘Growth for Impact 2024’ strategic plan, Euronext is designing initiatives to help listed companies develop their ESG strategies to maturity, including the launch of an index dedicated to the climate transition for issuers who have committed to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Take the self-assessment questionnaire

Find out more about Euronext’s ESG Advisory services

Find out more about Euronext’s “Growth for Impact 2024” strategic plan

Fabrizio Testa, Head of Fixed Income Trading at Euronext shares his views with The Desk on European fixed income and how the company plans to support the market with a harmonised offering and optimise trading workflow functionality.

What are the components of Euronext’s fixed income offering today?

Following the acquisition of Borsa Italiana, Euronext has reinforced its leadership position as a worldwide fixed income business. We want to strengthen Euronext’s position, by expanding the European footprint of MTS and by facilitating SMEs’ access to debt capital markets through the Borsa Italiana franchise. Euronext will broaden the offering to improve the end-to-end debt financing value chain.

MTS is the leading fixed income trading platform in Europe, number one in Europe for D2D European Government bonds trading, number one in Italian repo trading and number three in Europe for D2C European Government bonds trading. As part of its mission to finance the real economy, Euronext has also offered to the European Commission, subject to ongoing negotiations, its MTS platform as a platform for the secondary and transparent negotiation of bonds issued within the NextGenerationEU recovery programme.

Borsa Italiana has a strong franchise in the fixed income space, with the MTS, BondVision, MOT and Euro TLX platforms. Its markets have full vertical integration; listing, trading, clearing and settlement, with control of post trading via Euronext Clearing and Euronext Securities Milan. They cover Italian govies, European govies, corporate and emerging market names, in particular on TLX.

The Euronext legacy market has a retail fixed income trading system on the Continent with a single order book, a MiFID regulated market, trading credit and government bonds. Members and liquidity providers are mainly Tier 2 and Tier 3 firms, prevalently from Euronext countries. Bonds traded are issued by local issuers based in Euronext countries. It’s a cleared model, via LCH SA and the settlement is performed through Euroclear, National Bank of Belgium and Euronext Securities Porto.

In Oslo we manage a regulated market and a non-regulated platform called Nordic ABM, with members reporting institutional sizes. The core activity of our Oslo market is OBOE reporting of OTC trades by local members, with bilateral settlement, so very different but complementary models.

Could you give more detail on plans for aggregating or harmonising the offerings that you have today?

From a technical standpoint, we have started to work on the migration of MOT, ExtraMOT and TLX infrastructure, as they will be integrated into Euronext’s proprietary Optiq trading platform. Our customers will have a single access point to all these services. The Euronext legacy fixed income market was created as a copy of the equity market, whereas MOT and TLX have a number of functional features that are very specific to fixed income markets. This adds value for all members because features integrated from MOT and TLX will also benefit the Euronext model.

The second level is the model. Today we have multiple pools of liquidity, fees, and liquidity provision schemes and member roles in the market. We need to evolve the existing model with the objective of promoting cross-membership and developing execution and liquidity provision on the markets.

Now that we have Euronext Clearing within the group, our objective is to further integrate the post-trade process vertically to the benefit of members and to facilitate cross-membership, especially considering how critical post trade is to fixed income markets.

And MTS has a different plan?

MTS has a different infrastructure from a technical point of view and remains in a more independent position but that shouldn’t stop us from seeking a solution that aims to integrate our service to the customer. We need simplification, offering scalable, more cost-efficient solutions.

When we talk about the integration on the platform does that mean a single interface or more fundamental integration behind the scenes?

Members should get access to larger pools of liquidity, especially if they choose to be cross-members of Euronext and Borsa markets. Bonds will remain listed on each local market. The trading workflows will be identical because this is included in the Optiq integration, but fundamental integration will depend on implementing more consistency and ease of access across the portfolio services offered by the Euronext Group.

In post trade, we want a solution that allows customers to decide effortlessly which kind of set-up they want. In fixed income the real cost remains in post trade. The Italian model is fully integrated and fully automatic with Euronext Securities Milan (former Monte Titoli), Euroclear and Clearstream. The goal is to open the door to a solution that permits the Euronext legacy market to have the same facility so customers can trade and execute in different pools of liquidity, while having the same technical infrastructure. At the same time, we want to leverage our strengthened settlement footprint. Euronext Securities, our CSD network, registers and settles more than €4 trillion of bonds across Europe. We believe there is an opportunity for market participants in the bond market to leverage more intensively Target2-Securities, the ECB settlement platform, and Euronext Securities provides a very efficient gateway to it.

What material effect will all this have on users and members?

We want to keep our direct members and consistently admit new ones because there is value in a market with a broader and more diverse membership base. With the aggregation of European firms across the sell side and buy side it is important that we offer solutions to support local brokers to stay in the market and provide liquidity. We have a very open, interactive relationship with liquidity providers to help us understand which products are useful to put on our platform. It is fundamental to support more securities listings but also to create a secondary market.

In the past Euronext was asked by members to dual-list bonds that were primarily listed on other European stock exchanges such as the BME. Regulation on regulated markets prevented that. But now that we have a multilateral trading facility (MTF), TLX, in the group, if a member wants to trade a bond listed in Spain or Germany, we will be able to do this very easily. If we manage to develop cross-membership, customers could see a significant increase in available counterparties and unlock powerful network effects to their benefit, triggering additional flows from new liquidity providers that today are active on only one market.

How will your future model support the different elements of a trade’s workflow?

As an aggregator of different pools of liquidity, traders have a choice in terms of product trading platform, and post-trade solution. The idea will be to automatically scan the different pools of liquidity the group offers and respond with an execution almost instantaneously. Functionality tailored to specific users, increasing choice in workflow, is also high on the agenda.

The Desk.com