In the absence of an equivalence decision published by ESMA pursuant to MiFID II, the CSSF has the power to adopt its own equivalence decision.
The CSSF has analysed the laws in various jurisdictions and has published the list of jurisdictions it considers equivalent. The CSSF states that as a matter of principle countries who are not signatories to the IOSCO MoU cannot be considered as equivalent or jurisdictions with insufficient AML/CFT standards. The CSSF also looks at whether the country is considered as high risk or deemed non-cooperative by the FATF.
The list published by the CSSF in Regulation CSSF 20-2 on 1 July 2020 includes:
Canada;
Switzerland;
USA;
Japan;
Hong Kong; and
Singapore.
This means that entities from these jurisdictions will be able to rely on article 32-1 of the Luxembourg Financial Sector Law and will be able to provide investment services and activities to eligible counterparties and per se professional clients on a cross-border basis without requiring an establishment or licence in Luxembourg.
The entity will only need to complete the standard application form available on the CSSF website and submit this along with certain supporting documents.
