On March 27, 2015, ESMA published its final report and final draft technical standards on the assessment of acquisitions and increases in qualifying holdings in investment firms under MiFID I. The final draft technical standards comprise regulatory technical standards to establish an exhaustive list of information that an acquirer of an investment firm must provide to the relevant national regulator and implementing technical standards with standard forms, templates and procedures for cooperation and exchange of information between relevant national regulators. ESMA previously submitted draft RTS and ITS to the European Commission in December 2013. However, due to an amendment to legislation, those RTS need to be amended to cover information that the proposed acquirer must provide on the reputation and experience of any person who will direct the business of the investment firm after the proposed acquisition. The RTS and ITS published by ESMA on March 27, 2015 are the proposed revised RTS and ITS. Under MiFID II, which comes into effect on January 3, 2017, ESMA is required to prepare identical RTS and ITS and therefore ESMA considers that the revised RTS and ITS also satisfy its obligations under MiFID II.
ESMA final report is available at: http://www.esma.europa.eu/content/Draft-technical-standards-under-Article- 10a8-MiFID-assessment-acquisitions-and-increases-q-0.
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