I used diigo to make some notes on MIFID II. I have transcribed those notes to this wiki.
The snip was called, “DIRECTIVE 2014/65/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU” and I believe the quotes below are from the Directive.
- to strengthen the framework for the regulation of markets in financial instruments, including where trading in such markets takes place over-the-counter (OTC), in order to increase transparency, better protect investors, reinforce confidence, address unregulated areas, and ensure that supervisors are granted adequate powers to fulfil their tasks
- Directive 2004/39/EC should therefore now partly be recast as this Directive and partly replaced by Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council
- … is necessary to exclude from the scope of this Directive central banks and other bodies performing similar functions as well as public bodies charged with or intervening in the management of public debt
- management body of an investment firm, regulated markets and data reporting services providers should at all times commit sufficient time and possess adequate collective knowledge, skills and experience to be able to understand the firm’s activities including the main risks
- management bodies should therefore be sufficiently diverse as regards age, gender, geographic provenance and educational and professional background
- The management body should assume clear responsibilities across the business cycle of the firm, in the areas of the identification and definition of the strategic objectives, risk strategy and internal governance of the firm,
- Periodic monitoring and assessment of the strategic objectives of firms, their internal organisation and their policies for the provision of services and activities should ensure their continuous ability to deliver sound and prudent management,
- allows Member States to require, in the context of organisational requirements for investment firms, the recording of telephone conversations or electronic communications involving client orders
- … the Union is committed to minimising, where appropriate, discretions available to Member States across Union financial services law.
- … high-frequency algorithmic trading where a trading system analyses data or signals from the market at high speed and then sends or updates large numbers of orders within a very short time period
- the technical guidelines issued by the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority) (‘ESMA’), established by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (28) in February 2012 on systems and controls in an automated trading environment for trading platforms, investment firms and competent authorities (ESMA/2012/122)