According to European Regulation no 1095/2010 establishing the European Securities and Markets Au-thority (ESMA), ESMA shall act in the field of financial reporting, to ensure the effective and consistent application of European Securities and Markets legislation.
As a result of recently increased market interest in sovereign debt, ESMA has increased its coordination of the monitoring activities of competent authorities in response to the specific market circumstances and developments in this area.
Consequently, ESMA would like to stress the need for enhanced transparency in European listed issuers’ interim and annual financial statements using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). In doing this, ESMA would point out that IFRSs are issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, and the IFRS Interpretations Committee provides the authoritative guidance on the interpretation of IFRSs. Consequently this statement should not be understood as constituting guidance or recommenda-tions on IFRS, but rather as assisting issuers in preparing disclosures on sovereign debt.
To read more, please see the Public statement.