European Commission Adopts Delegated Regulation on RTS Relating to Maintenance of Relevant Data Relating to Orders in Financial Instruments under MiFIR
On June 24, 2016, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation and annex supplementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (Regulation 600/2014) ("MiFIR") with regard to regulatory technical standards ("RTS") for the maintenance of relevant data relating to orders in financial instruments (C(2016) 3821 final).
The Delegated Regulation will now be considered by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. If neither of them objects, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The Delegated Regulation will apply from the application date of MiFIR (that is, January 3, 2018).
ESMA Updates Document on Waivers from MiFID Pre-Trade Transparency Requirements
On June 20, 2016, ESMA published an updated version of the waiver document (ESMA/2011/241h) that sets out its assessment of applications for waivers from pre-trade transparency requirements under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (2004/39/EC) ("MiFID").
The waiver document is aimed at competent authorities under MiFID to ensure that, in their supervisory activities, their actions converge with the opinions provided by ESMA. The examples are also intended to provide clarity for firms on the MiFID requirements for pre-trade transparency.
In the updated waiver document there is a new ESMA opinion relating to large-in-scale waivers. The new opinion, which is written in red, provides an example of functionalities that satisfy the MiFID criteria.
European Commission Adopts a Delegated Regulation on RTS Relating to Clearing Access in Respect of Trading Venues and Central Counterparties under MiFIR
The European Commission has adopted a Delegated Regulation and annex supplementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (Regulation 600/2014) ("MiFIR") with regard to regulatory technical standards ("RTS") relating to clearing access in respect of trading venues and central counterparties (C(2016) 3807 final). ESMA submitted the draft RTS to the Commission in September 2015. The RTS cover transparency, micro-structural issues, data publication and access, requirements applying on and to trading venues, commodity derivatives, market data reporting, post-trading issues and best execution.
The Delegated Regulation will now be considered by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. If neither of them objects, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The Delegated Regulation will apply from the application date of MiFIR (that is, January 3, 2018) with the exception of Articles 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20, which will apply from the date the Regulation enters into force.
ESMA Publishes Responses to its Discussion Paper on UCITS Share Classes
The European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") has published the responses received to the Discussion Paper on UCITS share classes.
The UCITS Directive recognizes the possibility for UCITS to offer different share classes to investors but it does not prescribe whether, and to what extent, share classes of a given UCITS can differ from one another. ESMA has identified diverging national practices as to the types of share class that are permitted, ranging from very simple share classes (e.g. with different levels of fees) to much more sophisticated share classes (e.g. which may potentially have different investment strategies).
ESMA published the discussion paper on April 6, 2016. Respondents included the: Alternative Investment Management Association, European Fund and Asset Management Association and The Investment Association. |