On 16 December 2016, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) added new Q&As to its Questions and Answers document on the implementation of investor protection topics under the Market in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (MiFID II/ MiFIR).

This Q&A provides clarifications on the following topics:

• Suitability
• Post sale reporting
• Inducements (research)
• Information on charges and costs
• Underwriting and placement of a financial instrument

MiFID II applies from 3 January 2018 and will strengthen the protection of investors by both introducing new requirements and reinforcing existing ones. The purpose of this Q&A is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of MiFID II/ MiFIR for investor protection topics.

ESMA will continue to develop this Q&A on investor protection topics under MiFID II in the coming months, both adding questions and answers to the topics already covered and introducing new sections for other MiFID II investor protection areas not yet addressed in this Q&A.