Money market funds are explicitly defined as cash-equivalent products in the taxonomy, and this update establishes stress-testing requirements that directly govern MMF operations and risk management under the MMF Regulation.
Mandatory inheritance: Cash Equivalents as the primary tag requires Investment Services as the secondary tag, since MMF managers are investment service providers managing client assets through these liquid, cash-like instruments.
Specialism
The update establishes mandatory stress testing guidelines and parameters that MMF managers and competent authorities must apply under Article 28 of the MMF Regulation, which is a core prudential standard for financial soundness.
Mandatory inheritance: Prudential Standards requires the Governance parent tag, as stress testing governance and risk management frameworks are integral to prudential oversight.
2026-03-27 09:14:03·adavies@vixio.com
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TITLE: European Securities and Markets Authority Publishes Updated Stress Testing Guidelines for Money Market Funds
BODY:
On March 26, 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published updated guidelines on stress testing scenarios for money market funds (MMFs) under the Money Market Fund Regulation (MMF Regulation). The guidelines establish common reference parameters that MMF managers and competent authorities must apply when conducting stress tests in accordance with Article 28 of the MMF Regulation.
The guidelines specify stress testing requirements across six key risk factors: hypothetical changes in asset liquidity levels, credit risk changes including rating events, interest rate and exchange rate movements, redemption levels, basis spread widening or narrowing, and macroeconomic shocks affecting the entire economy. The guidelines distinguish between historical scenarios (reproducing parameters from past crises) and hypothetical scenarios (anticipating specific incidents). MMF managers must test stress scenarios individually and in combination with redemption requests from investors. The guidelines also address specific requirements for constant net asset value (CNAV) and low volatility net asset value (LVNAV) funds, requiring managers to estimate potential divergence between CNAV and net asset value under stress.
Part 5 of the guidelines, updated in 2025, provides calibrated parameters for common reference stress test scenarios that must be reported under Article 37 of the MMF Regulation. These parameters were developed in collaboration with the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the European Central Bank (ECB), incorporating the ESRB's adverse scenario. Competent authorities must notify ESMA within two months of the guidelines' publication in all EU official languages whether they comply with the guidelines, do not comply but intend to comply, or do not comply and do not intend to comply. The guidelines apply two months after publication on the ESMA website.
REFERENCES:
https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma50-481369926-30848_en_guidelines_on_stress_test_scenarios_under_the_mmf_regulation.pdf