What types of electronic communications are within the scope of the new requirements?

Under Article 16(7) of MiFID II, competent authorities may request that a firm keeps the records for up to a period of seven years, rather than five years. In such cases, what are the expectations by competent authorities on the retention of records?

When a firm is using a research payment account under Article 13 of the MiFID II Delegate Directive, can the research budget required under Article 13(1)(b)(ii) and 13(2)(a) be set for more than one client’s portfolio when determining the specific research charge to a client and establishing the need for third party research?

What is meant by checking the fairness of the price proposed to the client when executing
orders or decisions to deal in OTC products?

Article 38(1)(a) of the MiFID II Delegated Regulation states that “investment firms which provide advice on corporate finance strategy, as set out in Section B (3) of Annex I, and provide the service of underwriting or placing of financial instruments, shall, before accepting a mandate to manage the offering, have arrangements in place to inform the issuer client of the various financing alternatives available with the firm”. What are "the various financing alternatives” to be considered?