The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has updated its Q&A page for the implementation of investor protection topics under the Market in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (MiFID II/MiFIR).
This update provides clarifications on a host of topics including best execution, suitability, post-sale reporting, communication recording, record keeping, investment advice, product governance, application of MiFID II and the underwriting and placement of a financial instrument, among others.
In addition to clarification, ESMA has offered new answers to questions surrounding information in costs and charges. New answers have been given to ex-post information in case of portfolio management and relationship article 50 (9) and article 60 of the regulation in case of portfolio management.
Additionally, new responses for product intervention have been given to help clarify the application of national product intervention measures in case of services provided on a cross-border basis.
These updates are designed to help firms better meet compliance and further updates will be made when needed.
ESMA has taken a lot of action this year to help businesses comply with MiFiD II and MiFIR. The regulator recently issued an update on exchange funds, stating there is only one average daily turnover band from which to choose the highest threshold to be used to calculate the average value of transactions.
MiFID II has been a tricky regulation for everyone to get the hang of. In 2018, the RegTech Council estimated regulators dedicated 30,000 pages and 1.5 million paragraphs to help firms understand the regulation. This cost the financial industry €2.5bn.
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