On 30 January 2019, the European Commission adopted a number of Delegated Regulations that exempt the Bank of England (BoE) and associated applicable bodies from specified requirements under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR), the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR).

Each of MiFIR, MAR, EMIR and the SFTR exempt members of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), other Member States’ bodies performing similar functions and other EU public bodies charged with or intervening in the management of public debt from certain requirements. However, after Brexit these exemptions will no longer apply to the BoE and other UK institutions involved in managing public debt. The Delegated Regulations extend the exemptions to UK institutions even though the UK will be a third country after Brexit.

Each Delegated Regulation notes that the UK has given assurances to the European Commission (on 28 January 2019) that it will, with effect as of when EU law ceases to apply in the UK, exempt from the application of its domestic law equivalent to MiFIR / MAR / EMIR / SFTR the members of the ESCB and other Member States’ bodies performing similar functions and other EU bodies charged with or intervening in the management of public debt, in a manner comparable to the way in which the Commission has done so. The UK has also given assurances as regards the status, rights and obligations of the members of the ESCB in the domestic law of the UK.

The Delegated Regulations are as follows:

  • Delegated Regulation (plus Annex) amending Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1799 as regards the exemption of the BoE from the pre- and post-trade transparency requirements in MiFIR;
  • Delegated Regulation (plus Annex) amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/522 as regards the exemption of the BoE and the United Kingdom Debt Management Office from the scope of MAR;
  • Delegated Regulation amending EMIR with regard to the list of exempted entities; and
  • Delegated Regulation amending the SFTR with regard to the list of exempted entities (C(2019) 794 final).