ESMA publishes final Technical Standards on MiFID II, MAR and CSDR

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the  final technical standards (TS) relating to MiFID II / MiFIR, as well as the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), which are collectively considered to be the most important pieces of the post-crisis regulatory landscape. The TS can be accessed on the following here:

Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, commented that:

“The rules put out by ESMA today on MiFID II, MAR and CSDR will notably change the way Europe’s secondary markets function. And this will no doubt impact market participants and regulators alike. The magnitude of this change should not be underestimated. But the past has taught us that change is needed in order to make markets more transparent, efficient, and safer to invest in. This will entail a certain cost but we should not forget the other side of this equation, which is the great benefits safer and sounder markets will bring to everybody.”

Areas covered by the TSs include measures to increase transparency and investor protection, market microstructure, data publication and access, requirements applying on and to trading venues, commodity derivatives, market data reporting, post-trading and investor projection.

The TS have been submitted to the European Commission on 28 September 2015 for endorsement – the Commission has three months to decide whether to endorse them. Accordingly, the TS may be subject to modification.

MiFID II will enter into force in 2017.