A technical issue has forced the EU financial regulator to delay the publication of crucial data for systematic internaliser (SI) determination that market participants need to comply with MiFID II in Europe.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) was due to publish the SI regime data for equity and equity-like instruments and bonds on 30 April, but the “technical issue” has delayed publication until the end of next week at the latest. No further details were given as to the nature of the technical issue.
“Due to a technical issue, ESMA will delay the publication of the SI regime data for equity, equity-like instruments and bonds. This publication will now occur by the end of next week,” ESMA said in a statement.
The UK’s departure from the European Union has led to uncertainty on the timeline for the publication of various datasets required under MiFID II. Initially, ESMA said that in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit scenario on 12 April, calculations for the SI regime and bond liquidity scheduled for 1 May would be paused, and would resume again on 1 August this year.
But following the UK’s Brexit extension until 31 October, ESMA clarified that any references to the 12 April in existing measures on a ‘no-deal’ scenario should be read as reference to 31 October instead. The delay to Brexit meant that ESMA was due to publish the crucial SI determination data on 30 April.
Incomplete and inadequate datasets forced ESMA to delay the SI regime for derivatives and other non-equity instruments under MiFID II twice since the regulation was implemented on 3 January 2018. The derivatives SI calculations were initially due to be published on 1 August 2018, but concerns around data quality meant the publication was delayed until February this year, and then again until 2020.
The MiFID II SI regime requires investment firms to assess whether they are SIs for various assets on a quarterly basis, based on data from the prior six months of activity. If firms exceed thresholds from the calculations, they are considered an SI under MiFID II and have to fulfil SI obligations.