Who should read this paper?

This document will be of interest to all stakeholders involved in the securities markets. It is primarily of interest to competent authorities and firms that are subject to MiFID II and MiFIR – in particular, investment firms, credit institutions performing investment services and activities, data reporting services providers and trading venues. This paper is also important for trade associations and industry bodies, institutional and
retail investors and their advisers, and consumer groups, as well as any market participant because the MiFID II and MiFIR requirements seek to implement enhanced provisions to ensure investor protection and the transparency and orderly running of financial markets with potential impacts for anyone engaged in the dealing with or processing of financial instruments.

Responding to this paper

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) invites responses to the specific questions listed in the ESMA MiFID II/MiFIR Consultation Paper.

Please note that ESMA will only be able to consider responses received using this “form to reply” and complying with the procedure below.

a)    Instructions
Please note that, in order to facilitate analysis of the large number of
responses expected, ESMA will be using an IT tool that does not allow processing of responses which do not follow the formatting indications described below. Therefore, in responding stakeholders should:
i.    use the published template and send their responses in Word format (pdf documents will not be considered except for annexes);
ii.   
not remove the tags of type <ESMA_QUESTION_1> - i.e. the response to one question has to be framed by the 2 tags corresponding to the question; and
iii.    if they have no response to a question, not delete it and leave the text “TYPE YOUR TEXT HERE” between the tags.

b)   
Naming protocolIn order to facilitate the handling of stakeholders responses please save your document using the following format:
ESMA_MiFID2_CP_NAMEOFCOMPANY_NAMEOFDOCUMENT:
e.g. if the respondent were ESMA, the name of the reply form would be ESMA_MiFID2_CP_ESMA_REPLYFORM or ESMA_MiFID2_CP_ESMA_ANNEX1

c)    Content of the responses

Responses are most helpful:
i.    if they respond to the question stated;
ii.    contain a clear rationale; and
iii.    describe any alternatives that ESMA should consider.

Given
the breadth of issues covered, ESMA expects and encourages respondents to specifically answer those questions relevant to their business, interest and experience.

d)    Deadline

Responses must reach us by 2 March 2015.

All contributions should be submitted online at www.esma.europa.eu under the heading ‘Your input/Consultations’.

Publication of responses

All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation period, unless otherwise requested. Please clearly indicate
by ticking the appropriate checkbox in the website submission form if you do not wish your contribution to be publicly disclosed. A standard confidentiality statement in an email message will not be treated as a request for non-disclosure. Note also that a confidential response may be requested from ESMA in accordance with ESMA’s rules on access to
documents. ESMA may consult respondents if ESMA receives such a request. Any decision we make is reviewable by ESMA’s Board of Appeal and the European Ombudsman.

Data protection

Information on data protection can be found at www.esma.europa.eu under the headings ‘Legal notice’ and ‘Data protection’.