In last month’s Funds E-zine, we reported that the MiFID II proposals were to be formally approved by the European Parliament to pave the way for the Council to adopt the proposals. At plenary session on the evening of 15 April, the European Parliament voted to adopt the MiFID II proposals.

The legislation will amend MiFID by way of a directly effective Regulation (MiFIR) and a Directive (MiFID II), the details of which are described in the previous article.

The new rules will apply to investment firms, market operators (trading on stock or financial markets) and services providing post-trade transparency information in the EU. Both MiFIR and MiFID II now need to be formally approved by the Council and will enter into force 20 days after their publication in the EU Official Journal.

The earliest implementation date for MiFID II is late 2016.