ESMA updated opinion on the trading venue perimeter

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an updated version of its opinion on multilateral systems and the trading venue perimeter under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II). The opinion, first published in 2023, provides clarification as to when certain systems qualify as multilateral and need to be authorised as a trading venue, to ensure consistent implementation of the relevant requirements across the EU. The updated version, with changes marked in red, includes new paragraphs (51 and 52), which clarify the application regarding systems that pre-arrange transactions. In particular, it clarifies that:

• Request‑for‑quote and voice trading systems for non‑equity instruments are no longer subject to mandatory pre‑trade transparency requirements and therefore do not require a pre‑trade transparency waiver.
• Pre-arranging transactions in a multilateral way can only be done without trading venue authorisation where the trade is formalised on an EU trading venue. It also extends this to transactions formalised on certain equivalent third-country venues (i.e., those deemed equivalent under MiFIR trading obligations or recognised as equivalent regulated markets under EMIR), ensuring consistent treatment of such venues within the trading venue perimeter.

Other minor drafting clarifications are also made.

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