On March 24, 2015, ESMA launched a consultation on proposed guidelines for the assessment of whether debt instruments and structured deposits are complex or not. Under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, known as MiFID II, investment firms are able to provide reception, transmission and execution of orders for clients without carrying out the appropriateness test subject to certain conditions being met, including that the services do not relate to financial instruments that are (i) bonds, other forms of securitized debt and money market instruments incorporating a structure which makes it difficult for a client to understand the risk involved; or (ii) structured deposits incorporating a structure which makes it difficult for a client to understand the risk or return or the cost of exiting the product before term. ESMA is required to develop, by January 3, 2016, guidelines for the assessment of such instruments to help firms and national regulators classify correctly MiFID debt instruments and structured deposits as either complex or non-complex.
ESMA's consultation paper is available at: http://www.esma.europa.eu/news/ESMA-consults-complex-debt- instruments-and-structured-deposits-MiFID-II?t=326&o=home.
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