ESMA has published this opinion document on the criteria to determine whether an OTC trade is considered to be “Traded on a Trading Venue” (TOTV). The determination is required to establish whether an OTC trade is reportable under MIFIR transaction reporting and trade reporting. Transaction reporting applies to all investment firms, with trade reporting applying in some scenarios.

The basic principle established by ESMA is the in order to be “TOTV”, the OTC trade must have the same reference data as the equivalent on venue instrument,as defined by RTS 23 (see here).

While the opinion specifically relates to reporting as above, it is not clear whether the principle could be applied to other questions of “on venue equivalence”.