On 12 May 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its Opinion on the Trading Venue Perimeter.
The changes that ESMA has made to its previous opinion are in red.
In particular, ESMA has added a new paragraph 51 regarding pre-trade transparency requirements applicable to non-equity instruments. The paragraph provides that:
“It should be noted that pre-trade transparency requirements applicable to non-equity instruments now apply only to trading venues operating an order book or periodic auction system. Importantly, RFQ systems and voice trading systems offering trading in non-equity instruments are no longer within the scope of mandatory pre-trade transparency meaning they are not required to publish firm quotes or trading interests. While multilateral systems operating an order book or auction model must continue to comply with the revised transparency regime, RFQ and voice systems (for non-equity instruments), are no longer subject to pre-trade transparency obligations under MiFIR, and therefore a pre-trade transparency waiver should not be required.”
ESMA has also added a new paragraph 52 and updated paragraph 53 to clarify that transactions may be pre-arranged in a multilateral way on third country trading venues assessed as equivalent, and that where applicable, those trades benefit from a pre-trade transparency waiver.