The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, is launching today a public consultation on non-equity trade transparency, reasonable commercial basis (RCB) and reference data under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) review. ESMA’s proposals aim at enhancing the information available to stakeholders by improving, simplifying and further harmonising transparency in capital markets.
In the consultation ESMA is seeking input on three topics:
Pre- and post-trade transparency requirements for non-equity instruments (bonds, structured finance products and emissions and allowances), which aims at ensuring trade information is available to stakeholders by improving, simplifying, and harmonizing transparency requirements, and combining the right balance between real-time transparency and the ability to defer publication.
Obligation to make pre-and post-trade data available on an RCB intended to guarantee that market data is available to data users in an accessible, fair, and non-discriminatory manner. Furthermore, the consultation elaborates on the cost-based nature of fees and the applicable reasonable margin; and
Obligation to provide instrument reference data that is fit for both transaction reporting and transparency purposes. It also proposes amendments to align this data with other relevant reporting frameworks and international standards.