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[ T I M E L I N E
TIMELINE:
THE FIRST 500
DAYS OF MIFID II
The TRADE presents a comprehensive timeline of the major incidents,
developments, statistics and talking points that have occurred during
the first 500 days of the MiFID II regulatory regime, a milestone that
occurred on 18 May 2019, including data delays, the rise of periodic
auctions and systematic internalisers, and inevitable demands
3 January 2018
MiFID II
comes into
force across
Europe after a one-
year delay. While
markets are largely
unaffected on the day
itself, several major
European exchanges
– ICE Futures
Europe, London
Metal Exchange and
Eurex – are granted
last-minute reprieves
from complying with
the open access regime
until later in the year
to ensure “orderly
functioning of the
trading venues.”
9 January 2018
The first problems of
the MiFID II regime
appear as ESMA delays
the implementation of
the double volume caps
(DVCs) on dark pool
trading due to “insufficient
data” from trading venues.
18 January 2018 – US
broker Evercore ISI
shutters its European
trading operations
in London just two
weeks after MiFID II
comes into force.
10 January 2018
$300 million
was
wiped off the market for European
equity research after the MiFID
II’s rules on unbundling payments
for investment research and
execution fees, according to a
study from Greenwich Associates,
which finds that research and
advisory budgets had fallen on
average by 20% compared to 2017.
34 // TheTrade // Summer 2019
7 February
2018 – Major
exchange groups
call on ESMA to
include systematic
internalisers
(SIs) under the
regulation’s tick
size regime,
claiming it would
create a competitive
disadvantage for
trading venues
if only on-venue
orders and
quotes have to
comply with
the minimum
tick size
regime, resulting
in volumes
currently traded
on-exchange
migrating towards
OTC execution.
22 February 2018 – Fidelity
Investments announces a reversal
of its decision to pass research
costs on to its investors through
a commission sharing agreement
and RPA model under MiFID II
unbundling rules, and will instead
absorb the cost of research into
its own P&L.
7 March 2018
ESMA publishes
the first round
of DVCs data
for dark pool
trading after
its delay in
early January.
A total of 744
instruments in
January and 643
in February 2018
hit either the 4%
or 8% threshold,
a combined total
representing
2.5% of all
equities ESMA
lists.
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27 March 2018
ESMA announces
that it will enforce
the tick size regime
on SIs, stating that
market respondents
were supportive
of the decision
overall as it would
contribute to a
level playing field
between SIs and
exchanges.
21 March 2018
Trading data
under MiFID
II from
Thomson
Reuters finds
that dark pool
and large-in-
scale (LIS)
activity had
declined
under the
new regime,
while periodic
auctions
gained traction
among those
seeking to
avoid the
DVCs.
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22 May 2018 – ESMA’s first
liquidity assessment of the
European bond market finds
that only 220 bonds were
considered to be sufficiently
liquid to be subject to
MiFID II’s real-time
transparency
requirements.
26 April 2018
Chairman of
the Autorité
des Marchés
Financiers,
Robert Ophéle,
calls out Cboe’s
European
periodic
auction venue,
expressing
concern around
surging volumes
and how
the industry
considers them
to be lit venues.
5 June 2018 - The
UK’s economic
secretary to the
Treasury and City
Minister, John
Glen, confirms that
there will be “no
bonfire of financial
regulation”,
including MiFID
II, once the
United Kingdom
completes its
departure the
European Union.
Issue 60 // TheTradeNews.com // 35