Shortselling – A temporary ban

Investors have recently questioned the ban on shortselling Belgian shares and more specifically the ‘writing of options’. This measure has been taken by the FSMA and is provisionally in force until 19 April 2020.

In this case, the FSMA has based itself on a (European) regulation instead of a directive. A regulation has direct effect in a Member State, which means that it does not first need to be transposed into national law in order to be applicable. The FSMA can therefore rely directly on Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 (hereinafter the “Regulation”) without being dependent on a national law transposing it into Belgian law.

Read the full article here.