On November 13, 2018, ESMA published an updated version of its supervisory briefing on suitability. The original suitability briefing was published in December 2012 to provide guidance to EU national regulators on the suitability requirements under the original Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The updated suitability briefing reflects the amended requirements introduced by the revised MiFID and takes into account the new version of ESMA's Suitability Guidelines that was published in May 2018.
While the updated briefing is primarily aimed at national regulators, it should also assist market participants by providing indications of compliant implementation of the MiFID II suitability provisions.
While ESMA's current Suitability Guidelines are subject to a "comply or explain" mechanism (the notification period for which expires on January 6, 2019), no such similar requirement applies to this updated briefing. The updated suitability briefing will take effect and replace the 2012 version from March 7, 2019, when ESMA's new Suitability Guidelines also take effect.
The updated MiFID II Suitability Briefing is available at: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma35-43- 1206_mifid_ii_supervisory_briefing_on_suitability.pdf and details of ESMA's revised Suitability Guidelines are available at: https://finreg.shearman.com/european-securities-and-markets-authority-iss.
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