The Second Financial Markets Amendment Act (Zweites Finanzmarktnovellierungsgesetz, 2. FiMaNoG) has been published in the Federal Law Gazette. Most parts of this amending act will enter into force on 3 January 2018. Individual provisions, however, such as the possibility to use standardised product information sheets for shares traded on an organised market, enter into effect immediately.

The Second Financial Markets Amendment Act transposes the revised requirements of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR), the Regulation on Transparency of Securities Financing Transactions (SFTR) as well as the Regulation on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts (Benchmark Regulation) into national law.

The implementation of the aforementioned EU rules requires various amendments to the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz – WpHG), the Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG) and the Stock Exchange Act (Börsengesetz – BörsG). Furthermore, changes will be made to the German Insurance Supervision Act (Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz – VAG) and the Capital Investment Code (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch –KAGB).