ESMA finds NCAs imposed sanctions of €8.4 million for MiFID II breaches in 2020
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s Securities Markets Regulator, has published today its third report on the use of sanctions and measures by National Competent Authorities (NCAs) under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).
NCAs activity in this area increased in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2019, both in terms of the total number of sanctions and measures and the amount of fines. Overall, in 23 (out of 30) EU/EEA Member States, NCAs imposed a total of 613 sanctions and measures in 2020 for an aggregated value of about €8.4 million, compared to 371 sanctions and measures and about €1.8 million, issued by NCAs of 15 EU/EEA member states, in 2019.
Some differences persist in the way sanctions and measures are distinguished and identified for the purpose of reporting to ESMA. As a result, the figures in this Report on the number of imposed sanctions and measures imposed should be read carefully.
The MiFID II sanctions report published today contains an overview of the applicable legal framework and information on the sanctions and measures imposed by NCAs in accordance with Article 71(4) of the MiFID II Directive from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. NCAs submit data on the use of sanctions to ESMA, which forms the basis of the annual aggregated report.
Next steps
ESMA continues its work to foster supervisory convergence in the application of MiFID II and will proceed issuing reports on sanctions on an annual basis for future reporting periods.