MiFID II: ESMA issues final specifications for non-equity tape

On 31 March 2017, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the scope of the consolidated tape for bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances and derivatives.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) introduces the concept of consolidated tape providers (CTPs). CTPs will collect post-trade information published by trading venues and approved publication arrangements (APAs) and will consolidate them into a continuous live data stream and make the data available to the public, both for equity and non-equity products.

ESMA’s RTS specify
•the possibility for CT providers to specialise in one or some asset classes; and
•the APAs and trading venues that have to be included in the CT based on a coverage ratio of 80% of all transactions published in an asset class in the EU that the CTP has to meet.

ESMA already submitted in September 2015 draft regulatory technical standards (RTS 13 on the authorisation, organisational requirements and the publication of transactions for data reporting services providers) specifying the scope of the equity tape that have been endorsed by the Commission on 2 June 2016.

Given the higher complexity for establishing and operating a non-equity tape and bearing in mind that the provisions on the non-equity tape of Article 65(2) of MiFID II will only apply from September 2019, ESMA decided to deliver the draft RTS specifying the scope of the non-equity tape at a later stage. The proposed draft RTS amend RTS 13 on the authorisation, organisational requirements and the publication of transactions for data reporting services providers by adding a new Article specifying the scope of the non-equity tape.

ESMA has sent the RTS for endorsement to the European Commission, which has three months to decide whether or not to do so.

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