Green bond regulations among ESMA’s strategic priorities 

ESMA, the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has published its 2025 Annual Work Programme (AWP), which reaffirms its strategic orientation and commitment to safeguarding resilient, transparent, and sustainable European financial markets.

ESMA says it has contributed to the ongoing discussion of how to make European capital markets more efficient and attractive, and in 2025 will advance on those aspects within its control, while working with the co-legislators and others to support the construction of the European Savings and Investment Union. 

A significant portion of ESMA’s work in 2025 will comprise policy work to facilitate the implementation of the large number of mandates received in the previous legislative cycle and the preparation of new mandates, such as the European Green Bonds and the ESG Rating Providers Regulations. Following the adoption of EMIR 3, ESMA will take on new responsibilities and develop a substantial number of technical standards, including for the new Active Account Requirement.

2025 will also see the selection and authorisation of the first Consolidated Tape Provider, an important step to enhance the transparency of European markets. The effective implementation of MiCA will be crucial to ensuring adequate protection for investors and convergent supervisory approaches for Crypto Assets Services Providers. 

“In 2025, ESMA is set to deliver across an ambitious number of technical mandates entrusted to us during the last legislative cycle,” said Verena Ross, Chair, ESMA. “Through these implementation tasks, we will provide clarity to assist market participants and support national competent authorities to achieve convergent supervisory approaches. To make EU capital markets more effective and efficient, ESMA stands ready to support and advise the incoming Commission and co-legislators as the new priorities take shape.”

The 2025 Work Programme underlines ESMA’s dedication to providing adequate opportunities for and safeguarding the interests of retail investors wishing to participate in EU capital markets. In addition to preparations for potential new responsibilities under the Retail Investment Strategy and for the possible shortening of the settlement cycle (T+1), key outputs include technical standards and guidelines under MiFIR/MiFID II and AIFMD/UCITS. 

In 2025, ESMA will work to further strengthen supervision focusing on effective coordinated supervision across the EU financial markets. It will continue to use all the tools in its convergence toolkit to further harmonise supervisory approaches and practices across its remit, including common supervisory actions, and practical exchanges on specific supervisory cases and challenges. 

ESMA will work closely with the NCAs to enhance cross-border cooperation and data-sharing. Through the continued implementation of its Data Strategy and the development of common SupTech and data projects, ESMA will be contributing to the EU strategy on supervisory data in financial services. In 2025, ESMA is expected to finalise preparations to launch the first phase of the European Single Access Point (ESAP) in 2026, aiming to create a centralised platform for easy access to public data and information on securities markets.

“In 2025, ESMA will be preparing for a number of new supervisory responsibilities,” noted Natasha Cazenave, Executive Director, ESMA. “The entry into application of the Digital Operational Resilience Act in 2025 marks the end of an intense preparatory phase, during which ESMA worked closely with EBA and EIOPA, market participants, and relevant stakeholders to support the convergent implementation of a solid operational resilience framework.” 

 

Software and services leads Asian sector growth again in September

The latest S&P Global Asia Sector PMI data revealed that activity increased in 13 of the 18 monitored Asian sectors, the lowest number of growing areas since April. For the fourth consecutive month, software and services led the expansion, with growth accelerating since August. Underpinning growth of activity was a further rapid expansion in new business. Furthermore, growing business demands enabled software and services firms to again increase their staffing levels at the strongest pace among the 18 monitored sectors.

Insurance and banks followed in second and third place. However, real estate (the remaining segment of the broader financials category) showed the weakest growth in the current ten-month expansion phase.

Healthcare services was the only service sector to experience a fall in activity in September, marking its first drop in five months. Contractions were also noted in automobiles and auto parts, metals and mining, and household and personal use products, the latter seeing the largest decrease of the 18 monitored sectors.

Alongside chemicals and metals and mining, which experienced the steepest decline in new business, there were renewed deteriorations in demand trends across technology equipment, household and personal use products, machinery and equipment, and real estate. Notably, real estate was the only services category to report a drop, with a marginal decline in new business inflows.

Metals and mining, automobiles and auto parts, and chemicals all saw a decline in input prices, while cost pressures at machinery and equipment firms remained unchanged. Meanwhile, machinery and equipment reported a second consecutive monthly decrease in charges. Additionally, selling prices were reduced in both both metals and mining and automobiles and auto parts.

 

BofA brings virtual payables solution to EMEA

Bank of America (BofA) has expanded its virtual payables capabilities in EMEA with the launch of Virtual Payables Direct. The business-to-business (B2B) payment solution provides buyers with the usual working capital advantages of a card transaction – such as extended payment terms – in addition to a new enhancement that allows suppliers to be paid via a direct bank transfer. This comes at a time when the global B2B payments market is growing rapidly and is projected to reach over US$2.4 trillion by 2031, according to the Straits Research report ‘B2B Payments Market Size, Share and Forecast to 2031’.

The bank says that the solution helps businesses manage and optimise working capital, one of the top priorities for corporate treasurers, which has been brought to the fore over the past year. The solution provides greater flexibility for buyers as it allows for large, one-off or last-minute payments. Suppliers can also receive a fast payment through a bank transfer. These benefits allow all parties to manage their cash flow more effectively and enable greater operational efficiency.

The rollout of Virtual Payables Direct in EMEA will continue in 2025, with the addition of product enhancements and expansion to other regions.

“Virtual Payables Direct offers our clients in EMEA greater flexibility as they can make card payments to any supplier in the region, regardless of whether the supplier typically accepts card payments,” said Chris Jameson, head of Product Management for Global Payments Solutions (GPS) EMEA, BofA. “The payments are made much earlier in the procurement cycle, thereby helping to improve important supplier relationships and allowing the buyer to take advantage of any prompt payment discounts.”

 

J.P. Morgan and Trustpair to offer global bank account validation 

Fraud prevention platform Trustpair has extended its coverage by collaborating with Confirm, an application developed by Onyx by J.P. Morgan. Confirm is designed for the exchange of global account validation information, such as account status and account ownership, before the transfer of funds. This has been integrated into the Trustpair platform. 

Confirm has the ability to verify bank accounts in 15 global markets and is available in the Trustpair platform among existing data sources to help companies validate vendors before payment globally. For over a year, more than 200 companies have benefited from Confirm’s data, combined with Trustpair’s most effective integration of banking and corporate data, risk algorithms, and human expertise, ensuring a high level of protection against international fraud through Trustpair’s participation on Onyx.

“Businesses operate in a data-driven world, yet many still rely on inaccurate vendor and payment data when making high value transactions, which significantly raises companies’ risk of fraud, payment errors and delays,” said Gloria Wan, Executive Director, Onyx by J.P. Morgan. “Confirm and its network were created to provide collective intelligence to address these issues and improve decision making.”

“As fraudsters become more sophisticated and pervasive in usurping vendors’ identities, reliable data and automated account validation and controls are essential to help financial professionals defend their companies at a global scale,” added Baptiste Collot, Co-Founder and CEO of Trustpair. “The collaboration between Trustpair and Onyx by J.P. Morgan helps ensure to Trustpair’s customers the highest standard for fraud prevention and user experience.”

 

American Express and Boost partner on virtual card solution for suppliers payments 

American Express has announced an offering by Boost Payment Solutions to provide commercial virtual card processing services to US merchants that accept American Express. Qualified AmEx merchants will now have access to Boost Intercept, the payment firm’s patented STP solution, at no additional cost. This should enable suppliers to streamline acceptance of American Express virtual cards and minimise the challenges associated with manual processing of virtual cards.

While virtual cards offer a dynamic payment option that replaces a physical card number with a tokenised, one-time-use digital version, in B2B payments, some suppliers are still processing virtual card payments manually, including the opening of each email and copying the tokenised card number in their POS terminal. 

With Boost Intercept for qualified American Express merchants, the end-to-end process is entirely automated, eliminating the manual work previously associated with processing virtual ard payments via e-mail. The automated process can shorten the time between when a payment is authorised and when funds settle, potentially leading to better cash-flow management. 

By automating each step -- receiving, parsing and processing – suppliers can save time and, as virtual Cards are generated with unique details for a specific transaction, not have to worry about handling sensitive payment and card data from buyers.  

 

Expend integrates Mastercard and Visa business card transactions 

Expend says it is the first UK platform to process business expense data instantly, from Mastercard and Visa transaction feeds, directly into an expense capability. Expend clients can now have real-time expense settlement, streamlining financial management and improved efficiency.

Card Connect enables companies to connect all of their business cards to our single platform, which has multi-card acceptance. This means that users can view and submit all of their expense claims in one app, whether, for example, they paid on their corporate Barclaycard or business HSBC card. These card payments can be viewed in the app instantly, as they happen. 

For example, employees can charge business expenses to their Visa or Mastercard business card, and by connecting their preferred business cards to Expend, the transaction information can be processed quickly. Users can add receipts, categorise the expense and submit it for approval, via the app, and at the time they are making the purchase.

Managers and finance teams can view these submitted expenses from multiple cards, in one place, then send them through their approval flow for sign-off, and accounting reconciliation. 

“Traditional expense management is an ‘eye roll’ moment for firms of all sizes, and their employees,” said Johnny Vowles, CEO, Expend. “Paper-based receipts, clunky claims processes, and long sign-off routines create headaches and delays for finance teams and colleagues. However, with Expend’s Card Connect, we are continuing to revolutionise the expense management market.”

 

TreviPay and Allianz Trade look to enhance B2B risk management

B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay has announced a strategic partnership with Allianz Trade. This collaboration will provide the option to integrate Allianz Trade’s credit insurance into TreviPay’s suite of trade credit and invoicing solutions, which should provide enhanced risk management, enabling funding capabilities to businesses worldwide. 

The partnership hopes that trade credit insurance will enable companies to secure transactions and grow with confidence. The pair say this addition is particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that may lack extensive credit histories but possess the potential for significant growth. 

The collaboration also supports companies as they navigate direct-to-consumer (DTC) models and manage the risk of selling outside traditional distributor networks. Allianz Trade’s ability to underwrite a wide range of buyers complements TreviPay’s automated B2B payments technology solutions, ensuring transactions are covered and risks are managed efficiently. 

The partnership should allow TreviPay to enhance its flexible funding capabilities, with the option to use trade credit insurance as needed or requested, tailoring solutions to clients’ specific risk needs. The network’s clients can further improve their order-to-cash (O2C) process, ensuring trade credit and invoicing are not only automated but also financially secure.