Wednesday saw a meeting at the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee at the European Parliament on MiFID II, at which Steven Maijoor, chair of ESMA, presented. His opening speech can be found here. In it there are signs that the currently proposed tests for exemption under MiFID II may be changed before the final Regulatory Technical Standards are submitted in July.

This article on the Platts web site also mentions such changes, which may mean a change not only in the thresholds but also in the methods that will be used to assess exemption.  Platts have also released a useful video on this topic by Siobhan Hall. There has been a great deal of push back on the currently proposed method, which may well bring many energy and commodity traders into MiFID II and therefore classify them as financial counterparties.

It remains to be seen whether the possible change will benefit many in the market. The European Parliament and ESMA have indicated that the intent is to regulate the market. As such, in all probability there will be “winners” and “losers” from the changes. Once the RTS is submitted in July it still needs to be accepted and ratified. This is expected in September.