Busy like a bee
ESMA just published an updated version of their work program for 2012. The regulator plans to produce no less than 77 technical standards, technical advice and guidelines and recommendations this year! The newly passed law on short selling will require 18 documents, while EMIR holds the record with 41 expected publications. Enjoy making sense of all that regulation.
Luckily, in respect of MiFID II, ESMA only seems to be planning 4 documents for this year:
• ESMA guidelines on harmonised transaction reporting under MiFID – deadline 1st March 2013. ESMA just started a call for evidence on these.
• Guidelines on co-location, fee structures, tick sizes and mechanisms to manage volatility. ESMA has not decided whether these guidelines will be implemented but, if they are, it will most likely be at the end of this year.
• Guidelines on compliance function, expected by July 31st 2012. The consultation for this closed in February, so the actual guideline text should be published soon.
• Guidelines on suitability, to be processed in parallel with the Guidelines on compliance function. Also expected by the end of July.
All in all, ESMA will be a very busy bee throughout 2012 and the market will be swarming all over their documents to assess their impact.