With two weeks to go until the start of MiFID II, a great deal of information has been released by ESMA over the past few days.

Several updated questions and answers documents have been released following last week’s announcements (see here). These include:

• Transparency (here) – with updates on topics such as waivers, calculation of thresholds and others.
• Investor protection (here) – Including answers on the provision of services by third country firms, and dealing with the issue of late transposition.
• Data reporting (here) – answers to several reporting questions.
• Market structures (here) – which also deals with the issue of late transposition.

Recognition of third country venues including in the US (see here) has been adopted by the European Commission, as reported here on the Reuters web site, which also refers to venues in Australia and Hong Kong. The CFTC issued this exemption order recognising several European venues. As mentioned in this post on the Fidessa web site, ESMA has not yet published a list of authorised OTFs, but some are listed in the CFTC document.

In addition, several requirements have been delayed in some way. These include:

• LEIs – ESMA issued a statement (see here) temporarily permitting some services to be offered by investment firms to counterparties not in possession of an LEI, for 6 months, subject to certain conditions. The FCA has issued this response.
• Late transposition – dealt with in the Q+As outlined above and discussed here.
• Commodity derivative positions on third country venues – as outlined here.

It is likely to be a busy holiday period for many, as the reality of implementation comes closer. We can also expect the “dust settling” period after 3rd Jan to be protracted as the details are worked out.