As widely expected, the European Commission announced on Feb. 10 that it has officially proposed a one-year extension for implementing Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II). In February, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs published a report effectively delaying effectiveness of the regulation by a year to January 2018.
"Given the complexity of the technical challenges highlighted by ESMA, it makes sense to extend the deadline for MiFID II," said Jonathan Hill, European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets. "We will therefore give people another year to prepare properly and make the necessary changes to their systems. Meanwhile, we are pressing ahead with the level II legislation to implement MiFID II and expect to announce those measures shortly.”
The EC noted that “this extension will not have an impact on the timeline for adoption of the 'level II' implementing measures under MiFID II/MiFIR.” The Commission intends to “proceed with their adoption irrespective of the new date of entry into application of MiFID II.”
In addition, the European Commission proposed extending compliance dates by a year for certain provisions in two other EU regulations: the Market Abuse Regulation and CSDR, the regulation covering securities settlement and central securities depositories.
