On Sept. 28 the European Securities and Markets Authority published the final versions of its regulatory technical standards on three major pieces of financial reform legislation: MiFID II, the Market Abuse Regulation and the Central Securities Depositories Regulation. ESMA commented that the package of standards will implement many of the most important provisions in Europe’s post-crisis financial reforms.
The MiFID II standards, for example, will bring the majority of non-equity products into a more stringent regulatory regime and move signifi cant amounts of over-the-counter trading onto regulated platforms. The MiFID II standards also establish new rules for access to clearinghouses, transparency on trading data, algorithmic and high-frequency trading, position limits and hedging exemptions and many other aspects of market structure and trading practices. The standards also will extend the regulatory framework to commodity fi rms that engage in a certain amount of speculative trading and may require trading firms and non-fi nancial companies to comply with capital requirements designed for banks.
The technical standards are now subject to a three-month review by the European Commission. MiFID II is scheduled to take effect in January 2017.
