ESMA European Securities and Markets Authority : publishes first Q&As on crowdfunding

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU securities markets regulator, has published a Questions and Answers (Q&A) regarding the understanding of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) aspects under the Regulation on European crowdfunding service providers for business.

The purpose of this Q&A document is to promote a convergent application of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European crowdfunding service providers for business (ECSPR) and to provide responses to possible questions posed by the general public, market participants and competent authorities.

This first set of Q&As provides clarifications on the use of SPV under the ECSPR. It addresses the following topics:

• The circumstances and conditions in which a SPV can be created for the provision of crowdfunding services;
• The types of instruments that can be offered to investors via a SPV;
• Whether a SPV can give exposure to more than one underlying asset;
• The type of underlying asset a SPV can give exposure to; and
• When an asset should be deemed to be illiquid or indivisible within the meaning of the ECSPR.

Next steps

ESMA will continue to develop its Q&A on crowdfunding topics under the ECSPR in the coming months, both adding questions and answers to the topics mentioned above and introducing new sections for other areas covered by the ECSPR not yet addressed in this Q&A.