At the end of each month, the SAFE Regulatory Radar highlights a selection of important news and developments on financial regulation at the national and EU level.
28th regime for corporate law – EU Inc.
On 20 January, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on a 28th regime for corporate law. Under the proposal, every member state would have to legislate to introduce a new corporate form, “Societas Europaea Unificata” (S.EU - Unified European Company), which will be complementary or substitutive to national corporate forms.
All existing and new non-listed limited liability companies would be able to register as an S.EU in any member state of their choosing, regardless of the company’s headquarters. While the resolution largely follows the initial proposal with regard to core concepts such as a model charter and specialized dispute resolution, which was analyzed in a SAFE Finance Blog in May, a few notable changes are:
- While both texts demand a maximum-harmonization directive under Art. 50 and 114(1) TFEU and oppose the use of the enhanced cooperation mechanism under Art. 352(1) TFEU, the final resolution acknowledges a regulation to be most appropriate while also politically unrealistic.
- The final resolution asks the Commission to also consider issues on tax harmonization, especially regarding employee equity. The language on taxation, however, remains anchored in soft law and coordination provisions.
- The resolution replaces the need for S.EU’s to build a capital buffer up to national minimums over time with alternative creditor protection mechanisms such as solvency tests, even though the resolution does not qualify this further.
The initiative was endorsed in principle by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a speech in Davos and a legislative proposal by the Commission is expected in March 2026.
New Memorandum of Understanding on oversight of ICT third-party service providers
On 14 January, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK financial regulators from the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority. The MoU governs supervisory cooperation and information sharing on critical Information and Communication Technology third-party service providers (CTTPs), as mandated under the Digital Operations Resilience Act (DORA), as well as on critical third parties (CTPs) under the corresponding UK CTP Regime.
The MoU lays down rules for common oversight, risk monitoring, incident coordination, best-practice development, and the exchange of information (thereby reducing the need for duplicate filings) for mutually designated CTPs / CTPPs. The SAFE Regulatory Radar in July 2024 informed about standards to harmonize reporting of ICT-related incidents under DORA by the ESAs.
Updates:
- At the beginning of January 2026, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) concluded the transfer of the AML/CFT mandate to AMLA. From now on, AMLA will coordinate cross-border AML/CFT activities with national Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and directly supervise the 40 most complex financial institutions in the EU. The EBA will address money laundering through prudential regulation. The cooperation between the ESAs and AMLA is governed by an MoU.
- On 8 January 2026, the ESAs published joint guidelines on ESG stress testing for National Competent Authorities (NCAs) on how to integrate ESG risks – physical and transition – into insurance and bank stress testing. Going forward, NCAs shall gradually increase the inclusion of ESG factors, starting with environmental risks. As part of the ESG Uptake project, SAFE researchers work together with the Commission and eleven NCAs to improve capacity-building in this area.
- On 30 December 2025, the European Commission adopted an Implementing Regulation, laying down implementing technical standards (ITS) under the European Green Bond Regulation. The ITS determine the structured content, format, and submission channels for external reviewers who apply for ESMA registration to assess EU Green Bond alignment.
- On 22 January 2026, the ECB and the ESRB published a joint report on financial stability risk emerging from geoeconomic fragmentation. The report finds an increase in geopolitical risk, which negatively impacts growth and leads to financial distress. This effect is heterogeneous across member states, and it is larger in open economies and in countries with high levels of public debt.
Public consultation
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Vincent Lindner is Co-Head of the SAFE Policy Center.
