The revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) regulate the provision of investment services in a multitude of financial instruments at regulated trading venues as well as in over-the-counter OTC trading.

Objective

The new Directive and Regulation will fundamentally transform the European securities market by expanding transparency provisions, strengthening the stability and integrity of the financial market infrastructure, revising the markets’ microstructure (market making, algorithmic trading, requirements regarding the security mechanisms of trading venues and market participants, tick sizes) and improving the quality and availability of market data.

Time line

The Directive and Regulation (Level 1) entered into force on 1 July 2014. The provisions must be transposed into national law by 3 July 2017. The German Bundestag passed the Second Financial Market Amendment Act on 23 June 2017. Since 3 January 2018, the regulations have had to be applied.

MiFID II/MiFIR: the highlighted parts of the value chain are affected