The European Commission announced today (10 February 2016) that
it is extending the deadline for the application of MiFID II, by 1
year, to 3 January 2018. This had been signalled as a possibility
for some time (see our November 2015
Client Briefing for further background).
The Commission's
Press Release states that the reason for the extension lies in
the complex technical infrastructure that needs to be set up for
the MiFID II package to work effectively. The European Securities
and Markets Authority (ESMA) needs to collect data
from about 300 trading venues on approximately 15 million financial
instruments. To achieve this, ESMA must work closely with national
competent authorities and the trading venues themselves. However,
the Commission was informed by ESMA that neither competent
authorities, nor market participants, would have the necessary
systems ready by 3 January 2017, the date by which the MiFID II
package was initially scheduled to become operational.
