ESMA · ESMA_QA_801 Answer Published

General provisions

Regulation
Regulation 2020/1503 - European crowdfunding service providers for business
Article
Article 10(3) ECSPR
Topic
Control functions (Compliance, Risk and Audit)
Submitted
2022-05-19
Answered
2022-05-19

Question

Does a CSP need a separate authorisation in order to hold transferable securities or admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes offered on a crowdfunding platform, which can be registered in a financial instruments account opened in the name of an investor or which can be physically delivered to a custodian?

Answer

(Published as Crowdfunding Q&A 3.3) Yes, according to article 10(3) the holding of these instruments in custody requires a CSP to hold an authorisation in accordance with either Directive 2013/36/EU or 2014/65/EU. Alternatively, these instruments can be held in custody by a third party holding such authorisation. As indicated in Recital 28 of the ECSPR, the safekeeping of transferable securities or admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes that, in accordance with national law, are only registered with the project owner or its agent or are held on an individually segregated account that a client could open directly with a central securities depository shall be considered equivalent to asset safekeeping by qualified custodians. In such case, in accordance with Article 10(1) CSP shall clearly inform their clients about the safekeeping services according to national law.

This Q&A is published by European Securities and Markets Authority and is non-binding. It does not constitute legal advice. Updated weekly from official ESA sources.

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