United Kingdom (and EU regulation)

Latest FCA MiFID II implementation roundtable minutes

The FCA MiFID II implementation roundtable minutes for 22 February 2016 have been published. Among the points raised in the minutes:

the European Parliament is dealing with the Commission’s proposal for a delay to the application date. Debate about using the delay legislation to make substantive amendments seemed to be focused on two main topics: the application of pre-trade transparency to package transactions, and a change to Article 2.1.d to allow commercial firms to be members or participants in FX venues without being required to be authorised;
a question was raised about press reports that a leaked version of the delegated acts showed the Commission possibly narrowing the scope of instruments judged to be complex for the purposes of the appropriateness test. The FCA said that it was necessary to wait for the official texts to see what the legislation states. As a general point, if the Commission has departed from ESMA’s advice in the delegated acts it would be necessary for it to explain the changes it had made; and
in relation to the use of Regulations or Directives for the implementing measures, the FCA stated that at the last discussion on the delegated acts by the Expert Group of the European Securities Committee many Member States had expressed concern about the Commission’s then proposal to use only Regulations. In particular, Member States had pushed for conduct and client asset matters to be included within a Directive.