The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) received two joint mandates under the Regulation on MiCA to issue, respectively:

• guidelines on the suitability assessment of members of the management body of – and shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, with qualifying holdings in – issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) under Article 21(3) of the Regulation on MiCA, and

2) guidelines on the suitability assessment of members of the management body of – and shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, with qualifying holdings in – crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) under Article 63(11) of the Regulation on MiCA.

The EBA and ESMA have published a consultation paper which provides for common criteria to assess the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience of members of the management body as well as their good repute, honesty and integrity and if they are able to commit sufficient time to perform their duties.

The draft guidelines on the suitability assessment of shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, with qualifying holdings in issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) or crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) provides competent authorities with a common methodology for the suitability assessment of shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, with qualifying holdings for purposes of granting authorisation to issuers or ARTs or CASPs and to carry out the prudential assessment of proposed acquisitions.

The guidelines are to ensure transparency and harmonisation in regard to the criteria for the suitability assessment of the management body, and shareholders and members with qualifying holdings. The consultation will close on 22 January 2024.

More details can be found here:

https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/eba-and-esma-consult-two-sets-joint-guidelines-under-mica