CNMV Releases 2025 Plan to Strengthen Compliance & Risk Management in Spain's Financial Markets

Key Takeaways

• 44 Specific Objectives: The CNMV has outlined 44 specific objectives to enhance supervision and compliance, targeting key areas like crypto-assets, AI, and investor protection.
• New Retail Investor Protection Department: A new department will be established to focus on financial education and protection, particularly addressing the risks posed by emerging markets like crypto-assets.
• Focus on Compliance and Enforcement: The CNMV will strengthen enforcement in emerging sectors, including monitoring finfluencers and ensuring compliance with the MiCA Regulation on crypto-assets.
• Cybersecurity and AI Risk Management: A three-year strategy will be implemented to address emerging cybersecurity risks, alongside increased scrutiny of AI use in financial institutions.
• Streamlined Internal Processes: The CNMV will overhaul internal processes to improve regulatory efficiency and respond faster to market risks, including the transition to T+1 settlement.

Deep Dive

The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has recently released its 2025 Activity Plan, which contains a clear set of objectives aimed at strengthening Spain’s financial market oversight. Carlos San Basilio, Chairman of the CNMV, highlighted the need for the Commission to adapt to the new challenges that the financial markets face, emphasizing that the CNMV must be both more agile and more transparent as it responds to an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

For starters, one of the important pieces of the CNMV’s plan is enhancing retail investor protection. The Commission is making it clear that as the market expands, particularly in areas like crypto-assets, ensuring that investors are informed and protected remains a top priority. A new Retail Investor Protection and Financial Education Department will be set up to consolidate efforts in protecting consumers and increasing financial literacy.

This department will be tasked with overseeing risks associated with emerging products and ensuring that retail investors are not misled by unreliable sources of information. One area of focus will be the growing role of "finfluencers", individuals who offer investment advice through social media channels. The CNMV plans to step up its efforts to ensure that these figures comply with the Market Abuse Regulation, which governs the fairness of financial markets.

The Commission will also continue to monitor how crypto-assets are marketed and ensure that firms comply with the MiCA Regulation, which lays out the framework for crypto regulation in Europe. This regulatory clarity will help investors navigate the complexities of the crypto space while reinforcing consumer protection.

Evolving Compliance & Risk Management for Emerging Threats

The CNMV’s 2025 plan also emphasizes adapting compliance and risk management to deal with new, often unpredictable, challenges in the market. Cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) are two areas that will receive heightened focus. As financial markets become increasingly reliant on digital tools and platforms, the risks associated with cyber threats and the use of AI in trading and decision-making processes are growing.

The CNMV intends to develop a three-year cybersecurity strategy to address emerging risks in the digital age, ensuring that both market participants and regulators can keep pace with the evolving threat landscape. In tandem, the Commission plans to monitor how AI is being used by financial institutions, focusing on ensuring that automated systems are compliant with existing regulations and do not introduce unforeseen risks to the market.

By enhancing oversight in these areas, the CNMV aims to prevent the types of risks that could disrupt market stability or undermine investor confidence, especially as digital finance and AI-driven tools continue to expand.

Another significant focus of the 2025 plan is improving the efficiency of internal processes to strengthen regulatory enforcement. As part of this effort, the CNMV will work on simplifying its procedures to make compliance checks more effective and faster to respond to emerging issues. This is crucial for maintaining an effective regulatory environment that can quickly address market risks as they arise.

Supporting Growth with a Focus on Compliance

While the CNMV’s 2025 plan focuses heavily on strengthening risk management and regulatory enforcement, there’s also a clear push to facilitate capital markets development—particularly by making it easier for SMEs to access capital. This includes following up on recommendations from the OECD aimed at revitalizing Spain’s securities market and ensuring that new companies can more easily list and access funding.

Despite these efforts to encourage growth, the CNMV is committed to maintaining a rigorous compliance environment. It will continue to monitor the financial industry’s adherence to standards, ensuring that new market participants understand and comply with the rules that govern financial transactions, from the simplest investments to more complex products like crypto-assets.

The CNMV is also planning for the long term. Chairman San Basilio revealed that the Commission is already thinking about the regulatory landscape of 2030, mapping out the steps it needs to take to remain effective in an ever-changing market environment. The 2025 plan is viewed as the first phase of this broader vision, where the CNMV will continue to refine its approach to supervision, compliance, and risk management in the years to come.

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