The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) set up an emergency Website informing financial institutions, regulated entities and the public on all measures taken in response to COVID-19.[1]
BaFin announced via press release that it plans on making full use of its supervisory flexibility to allow swift and effective responses of the financial sector that are in accordance with necessary regulation. The following measures were explicitly announced/performed:
Short Selling: Member States severely affected by COVID-19 will take protective measures to restrict short selling (as bets on falling indices). Many European Regulators (such as Spanish CNMV, Italian CONSOB, French AMF, Greek HCMC, Belgian FSMA and Austrian FMA) have done so. BaFin clarifies in this respect that short sales on certain EU indices[4] are still possible as long as a defined threshold value has not been reached. [5] Further steps need to be taken in strict accordance with EU-law[6] to avoid conflicting rules in member states which potentially may cause unequal treatment or economic (dis) advantage based on location.
[1] https://www.bafin.de/DE/Aufsicht/CoronaVirus/CoronaVirus_node.html; english version
https://www.bafin.de/EN/Aufsicht/CoronaVirus/CoronaVirus_node_en.html.
[3] https://www.bafin.de/SharedDocs/Veroeffentlichungen/DE/Meldung/2020/meldung_2020_03_12_corona_virus3_BA_Risikomanagement.html
[4] Euro STOXX 50®, STOXX® Europe 600, MSCI Europe, MSCI EMU
[5] https://www.bafin.de/SharedDocs/Veroeffentlichungen/DE/Meldung/2020_Corona_andereBehoerden/meldung_2020_03_19_corona_virus3_Leerverkaufsverbote.html
[6] E.g. Regulation (EU) No. 236/2012 dated 14 March 2012 on short selling and aspects of credit default swaps.