28 March 2022
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has today proposed targeted amendments to some of its Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS 1 and RTS 2) which specify the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) transparency requirements for equity and non-equity respectively. These amendments aim to clarify, improve and simplify the transparency regime for equity and non-equity instruments.
ESMA had decided to carry out its review of RTS 1 and RTS 2 in two steps:
- This final report includes a first series of proposed amendments to address issues that have received broad support from stakeholders and/or are considered important in the context of establishing a consolidated tape provider (CTP); and
- A second, and broader, review will be carried out following the MiFIR review which is currently under discussion. It will be focussing on the necessary changes of RTS 1 and 2 in consequence of the MiFIR review and also including the analysis of proposals included in the Consultation Paper published in July 2021 but not covered in this final report.
Next steps
The reports, generally of interest to all market participants active on EU markets, are submitted officially to the European Commission who will have three months to decide whether to endorse the proposed amendments to the RTS.