MiFID2: ESMA publishes guidelines on transaction reporting, order record keeping and clock synchronisation

The final guidelines are the outcome of own initiative work by ESMA on supervisory convergence measures on the implementation of draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) 22, 24 and 25. Alongside the guidelines, ESMA has published a final report on feedback received to its consultation launched in December 2015. In particular, the final report sets out how responses were taken into consideration when drafting the final guidelines and any material changes as a result of the feedback received.

The guidelines are addressed to national competent authorities (NCAs) and financial markets participants and are intended to provide guidance to help investment firms, trading venues and approved reporting mechanisms (ARMs) prepare for compliance with their reporting and order record keeping obligations prior to their entry into force in 2018. ESMA intends to publish related technical documents on reporting instructions by the end of October 2016. The guidelines relate to:

• general principles on transaction reporting and order record keeping;
• reporting and record keeping scenarios for the various trading scenarios that may occur;
• reporting of specific financial instruments; and
• clarifications on specific legislative provisions related to clock synchronisation.

ESMA expects financial market participants to incorporate the guidelines into their supervisory practices. Once the guidelines have been translated into the official languages of the EU, NCAs will have two months to inform ESMA whether they comply or intend to comply with the guidelines.