Several industry associations and banks have pushed back against proposals by the Bank of England to roll out an enhanced version of the rules governing algorithmic trading in financial instruments, as reported here on the Bloomberg web site. The Bank of England released this consultation paper in February, which proposes rules that go over and above what is required by MiFID II Regulatory Technical Standard 6. The additional rules relate to the scope of algorithms that require change approval. It is felt that the changes may put UK based companies at a disadvantage after Brexit.

MiFID II RTS 6 applies to any company engaging in “algorithmic trading” in financial instruments, including those who qualify for an exemption from MiFID II, such as those in energy and commodities that make use of the Ancillary Activity exemption.