Editorial: Governance, risks, and rules at the beginning of the pandemic

Abstract

A premise of this issue seems appropriate. The coronavirus epidemic has caused an abrupt economic and social disruption and markets are reacting accordingly. Many economies around the world could suffer from falling GDP, due to growing lockdown measures and the millions of people absent from work, the closure of schools and thousands of restaurants and other closed businesses. Therefore, financial markets are experiencing levels of extreme volatility, while investors are grappling with the various consequences that this virus could bring with it. In this regard, on March 11th, 2020 the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) published recommendations addressed to participants in the financial markets, precisely in consideration of the spread of COVID-19 and the related impacts on the European Union economy (ESMA, 2020). In particular, after examining the market situation and the emergency measures adopted by the various participants in the financial markets, ESMA made 4 recommendations on the following areas: 1) business continuity planning; 2) market disclosure; 3) financial reporting; 4) fund management.