Response to ESMA Consultation Paper on ESMA’s Opinion on the Trading Venue Perimeter

FESE believes that the primary aim of ESMA’s Opinion on the Trading Venue Perimeter should be to provide clarifications on the definition of “multilateral system” in MiFID II for the purposes of supervisory convergence. The interpretation should take into account the need to ensure proper enforcement of the regulatory framework. There should not be room to artificially circumvent the framework. At the same time, there needs to be room for healthy innovation to ensure competition on a level playing field. It is important to strike the right balance between competing objectives of the MiFID II/R regime, for example:

• On the one hand, it is important to promote fair and orderly trading, market integrity, and a level playing field.
• On the other hand, the perimeter should not be excessively burdensome and cover market conduct that does not involve trading.
• In addition, as national competent authorities will rely on the upcoming Opinion, ambiguities that could lead to undue extensions of the perimeter should be avoided.
• ESMA should, when looking at individual cases, be careful to consider all the elements of the definition of a multilateral system and not just selected parts of it.