Market Abuse Regulation

On December 8, in response to a request by the European Commission (EC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order exempting certain multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and organized trading facilities (OTFs) authorized within the European Union (EU) from the requirement to register with the CFTC as swap execution facilities (SEFs).
Continue Reading CFTC Approves Exemption From SEF Registration Requirements for Multilateral Trading Facilities and Organized Trading Facilities Authorized Within the EU

On December 12, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published issue 55 of Market Watch, its newsletter on market conduct and transaction reporting issues.

Similar to Issue 54 of Market Watch (reported in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of November 10, 2017), Issue 55 contains articles of relevance to the implementation of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR). The articles provide a useful reminder of the following areas in the lead up to the implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR on January 3, 2018:
Continue Reading FCA Publishes Issue 55 of Market Watch Newsletter

On December 14 and 15, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a number of new and updated question and answer documents (Q&As) relating to, among other things, the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR).

The Q&As relate to the following topics:

On October 20, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published guidelines (Guidelines) on receiving market soundings (also commonly known as being “wall crossed,”) under the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The Guidelines apply to EU regulators and persons receiving a market sounding (MSR) wherever in the world they are located. They seek to ensure consistent and uniform approaches on the factors, steps and records MSRs are required to implement under MAR. The Guidelines are divided into six sections covering: 1) internal procedures and staff training; 2) notifications when MSRs do not want to receive future market soundings; 3) assessments of possession and ceasing to possess inside information as a result of a market sounding; 4) assessments of related financial instruments; 5) written minutes or notes; and 6) record keeping. 
Continue Reading ESMA Publishes MAR Guidelines on Receiving Market Soundings

On October 20, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published guidelines (Guidelines) on the scope of circumstances where an EU-listed issuer may delay disclosure of inside information, under the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The Guidelines apply to EU regulators and issuers of financial instruments admitted to trading on an EU trading venue (EU regulated market, EU multilateral trading facility (MTF) or organized trading facility (OTF)) and aim to guide such issuers when deliberating whether to delay the disclosure of inside information, in accordance with Article 17(4) of MAR.
Continue Reading ESMA Publishes MAR Guidelines for EU-Listed Issuers on Delaying Disclosure of Inside Information

On August 17, the City of London Law Society and Law Society Company Law Committees’ Joint Working Parties on Market Abuse, Share Plans and Takeovers Code (Joint Working Parties) published a Questions and Answers paper (Q&A) on the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The Q&A published sets out the Joint Working Parties’ suggested approach to implementing particular matters of MAR and follows an initial Q&A document published by the Joint Working Parties on July 5, 2016 (July Q&A).
Continue Reading City of London Law Society and Joint Working Parties Publish Second EU Market Abuse Regulation Q&A

Updating the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest March 18 edition, on June 17, the delegated regulation (Delegated Regulation) on arrangements, systems and procedures and notification templates to be used for preventing, detecting and reporting abusive practices or suspicious orders or transactions under the EU Market Abuse Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Delegated Regulation will go into effect 20 days following its publication, and is set to apply from July 3.
Continue Reading MAR Delegated Regulation on Abusive Practices and Suspicious Orders and Transactions Published

On June 17, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued an opinion (Opinion) in relation to implementing technical standards (ITS) on the public disclosure of inside information under the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The ITS were originally submitted to the European Commission (Commission) for approval in September 2015.
Continue Reading ESMA Issues Opinion on MAR Implementing Technical Standards on Disclosure of Inside Information

On March 9, the European Commission adopted a delegated Regulation (and an accompanying Annex) in relation to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). The delegated Regulation sets out arrangements, systems and procedures and notification templates to be used for preventing, detecting and reporting abusive practices or suspicious orders or transactions under MAR (STOR requirements). As noted in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of October 2, 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report in September 2015 in regards to MAR, which contained several draft regulatory technical standards (RTS), including those related to STOR requirements.  
Continue Reading EU Commission Adopts Delegated Regulation on Abusive Practices and Suspicious Orders and Transactions Under MAR