ESMA publishes its Final Report on bond transparency and reasonable commercial basis under MiFIR Review

The report includes the amendments to regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the mandates for bonds, structured finance products (SFPs) and emission allowances (EUA). Regarding the bond deferral regime, ESMA has performed a new data analysis, focusing on metrics such as the average daily volumes, to improve the deferral regime initially proposed in the public consultation.

The proposed pre- and post-trade transparency requirements for non-equity instruments are designed to ensure a high level of transparency whilst ensuring that liquidity providers are protected from undue risk. The RTS also ensures that the new deferral regime is in place ahead of the go live of the bond consolidated tape.

Regarding the new mandate on RCB, the report covers the obligation to make pre- and post-trade data available on an RCB. The fees of market data will need to be based on the cost of producing and disseminating the market data and a reasonable margin.

The RTS is designed to ensure that market data is available to all market participants in an accessible, fair and non-discriminatory manner and this will be fundamental to guarantee a proper implementation of the MiFIR Review. More information on the changes due to MiFID II and MiFIR Review can be found in the ESMA dedicated webpage.

Next steps

The report has been submitted to the European Commission, that will now have three months to decide whether to endorse the proposed RTSs.

ESMA also intends to publish another consultation paper addressing the transparency mandate for derivatives under Article 11a of MiFIR in early 2025.

Further information:

Cristina Bonillo

Senior Communications Officer
[email protected]