We disagree with an extension of its scope to UCITS’ and AIFs’ management companies to the scope of the reporting requirements imposed by MiFIR, Art. 26. This extension would be in breach of the principle of proportionality, as:
The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is a cornerstone of EU financial services legislation and is of direct relevance to asset management companies. In 2014, the European Commission adopted new rules revising MiFID, consisting of a Directive (MiFID II) and a regulation (MiFIR). Overall, MiFID II yielded positive results in terms of liquidity and transparency for investors.
Among possible improvements to the MiFID framework, EFAMA encourages the creation of a well-structured, reasonably priced consolidated tape managed by ESMA and fed by all trading venues and systematic internalisers for all financial instruments. A second, long-term EFAMA objective is better enforcement of data providers’ existing obligation to provide market data on a “reasonable commercial basis”.
We disagree with an extension of its scope to UCITS’ and AIFs’ management companies to the scope of the reporting requirements imposed by MiFIR, Art. 26. This extension would be in breach of the principle of proportionality, as:
EFAMA appreciates the Commission's efforts in pursuing an alleviation of certain MiFID II requirements in the interest of promoting a swift recovery from the economic crisis precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic (....).
EFAMA believes however that there are more effective ways to foster SME access to markets and urges the Commission to consider a set of further measures (...)
The MiFID/MiFIR review will be key to the future success and competitiveness of the EU's capital markets.
With international competition for investment heating up markedly, European legislators need to ensure that EU regulation is helping, and not hindering, capital market growth and participation.
Various European trade associations representing EU capital markets, including EFAMA, BVI, EFSA and NSA, have published a letter outlining their main priorities for the review. This includes the following core elements:
EFAMA members are paying close attention to the ongoing discussions in the European Parliament and Council to reach a compromise on the MiFID review. Together with a broad majority of market participants, including the sell-side and alternative trading venues, we have consistently made the case for a real-time tape for equities with the inclusion of pre and post-trade data.
EFAMA is appreciative of the opportunity to comment on this major IOSCO study on the dynamics of bond market liquidity during market stresses. We provide some detailed responses below, but would reiterate a few high-level points here:
A real-time consolidated tape, provided it is made available at a reasonable cost, will bring many benefits to European capital markets. A complete and consistent view of market-wide prices and trading volumes is necessary for any market, though this is especially true for the EU where trading is fragmented across a large number of trading venues. A real-time consolidated tape should cover equities and bonds, delivering data in ‘as close to real-time as technically possible’ after receipt of the data from the different trade venues.
The current lack of quality pre- and post-trade data and the fragmentation of data sources remain an obstacle to the completion of the Capital Markets Union. The benefits of a real-time Consolidated Tape are wide-ranging: from market surveillance for supervisors, to best execution and an improved view on trading opportunities for retail investors, to portfolio management and pre- and post-trade analysis for fund managers to name a few.
Funds face unique challenges in performing intermediary oversight, and especially so because of MiFID II requirements, changing regulatory landscapes, and the absence of an industry agreed-upon standard between funds and their distribution channels. To help address these challenges, a dedicated working group developed a uniform due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) that will serve as the standard for investment funds (UCITS and AIFs) in performing onboarding and ongoing oversight of distribution channels.