The European Council has issued this press release confirming agreement with the European Parliament to the one year delay to the start of MiFID II, from 3 January 2017 to 3 January 2018. The press release alludes to the reasons around the delay, and also confirms the new transposition deadline of 3 July 2017, by which time member states must implement MiFID II into local law.

The one year delay to MiFID II has caused some firms to take a more strategic approach to implementation, as reported in this article in The Trade News. Many are using the delay as an opportunity to implement some of the rules more efficiently, for example by adopting a holistic approach to data reporting.

In the energy and commodities sector, many are waiting for the next version of RTS 20 to be released by ESMA. This contains the rules around the ancillary activity test, which determines whether market participants will be required to set up a regulated entity, that will need to comply with the majority of the MiFID II requirements. The new version is due to be released by the end of May.