On 2 April 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its Q&As regarding market structures and transparency issues under MiFID II and MiFIR.
New Q&As have been added to provide clarification on:
- determination of the turnover to be used for the average value of transactions calculation;
- money market instruments;
- impact for systematic internalisers (SIs) of an instrument changing liquidity status in between the SI determination dates;
- reporting of prime brokerage transactions;
- quoting obligation for SIs in non-equity financial instruments;
- branches of third country firms operating as SI in the EU; and
- third-country trading venues’ access to an EU central counterparty (CCP).
ESMA has deleted the Q&A clarifying how tick sizes should be determined for non-EU instruments due to the publication of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/443.
ESMA has also amended 4 Q&As dealing with the:
- identification and authorisation of high frequency trading (Q&A 6 of section 3 on Direct Electronic Access and algorithmic trading);
- timing of notification for transitional arrangements under Article 35(5) of MiFIR (Q&A 1 of section 6 on Access to CCPs and trading venues);
- timing and procedure of notification for temporary opt out under Article 36(50 MiFIR (Q&A 3 of section 6 on Access to CCPs and trading venues); and
- timing of application for transitional arrangements under Article 54(2) of MiFIR (Q&A 5 of section 6 on Access to CCPs and trading venues).
