On September 28, 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority published a final report and final draft Regulatory Technical Standards and ITS on the Market Abuse Regulation which replaces the Market Abuse Directive and applies from July 3, 2016. The report sets out the changes to the draft technical standards from those proposed in ESMA's initial consultation. The final draft technical standards cover: (i) detailed requirements for reporting of suspicious orders or transactions; (ii) the establishment, maintenance and termination of accepted market practices for certain behavior not to be considered market manipulation; (iii) the arrangements, procedures and record keeping requirements that persons conducting market soundings must comply with for a market sounding not to be considered insider dealing, including the systems and notification templates and technical means for appropriate communication; (iv) the conditions that buy-back programs and stabilization of securities must meet not to be considered insider dealing or market abuse, including conditions for trading, restrictions on time and volume, price conditions and disclosure and reporting obligations; (v) notification requirements for trading venues of financial instruments for which a request for admission to trading is made, admitted to trading or traded for the first time; (vi) technical means and rules for public disclosure of insider information and rules on disclosure delays; (vii) arrangements for the objective presentation of investment recommendations or other information recommending or suggesting an investment strategy and for disclosure of particular interests or indications of conflict of interest; (viii) the precise format of insider lists; and (ix) the format and template for notification of managers transactions. ESMA will submit the final report and final draft RTS and ITS to the European Commission for endorsement.
The final report and technical standards are available at: http://www.esma.europa.eu/news/ESMA-readies-MiFID-II-MAR-and-CSDR?t=326&o=home.
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