The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), the leading trade association for international fixed income markets, has responded to the European Commission’s consultation on the Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID) Review.
In its submission, ICMA:
- encourages the Commission to consider the full implications of its proposals;
- proposes to expand the definition of ‘admission to trading’;
- recommends that the Commission excludes money market instruments from MiFID;
- asks the Commission to accommodate bilateral trading and hybrid systems within the ‘organised trading facility’ (OTF) category;
- calls for the scope of the non-equity pre-trade transparency framework to be limited to large investment grade bond issues;
- supports CESR’s recommendation not to introduce mandatory pre trade transparency outside the equity market;
- advocates that the post trade transparency framework be based on high/low/median prices published at the end of day, with appropriate delays to accommodate the unique nature of the bond market and phased implementation of the new requirements;
- agrees that title transfer collateral for retail clients should be properly managed, but not prohibited;
- offers to assist in the development of any further proposals in respect of the underwriting and placing process in the primary market.
Commenting on the MiFID submission, John Serocold, Senior Adviser at ICMA said: “We have to go on working with policy makers to improve these proposals. ICMA’s overriding concern is to sustain the efficiency of our markets.”
Click here to view the full text of the ICMA Response.
ICMA was responding to the Review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive