MiFID II and LEI in Europe
In the fight against insider trading and market abuse, the European regulators, including the Dutch AFM, have introduced a new set of rules through the ESMA, which are known under the abbreviation MiFID II. MiFID stands for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and ESMA stands for European Securities and Markets Authority. MiFID I dates back to 2004, MiFID II was decided upon in 2014. The practical application of MiFID II currently finds its way into the national laws and regulations in the Netherlands and all other European countries. Most of the rules that are laid down in this new package are important for professional financial service providers. Consumers will have little bother here other than that the consumer is going to be even better informed about costs and risks of the products that are offered to him. But one thing is going to have a direct impact on consumers, especially when he or she directly or through a legal entity carries out securities transactions, in short anyone who invests or allows others to invest on his or her behalf. The rules for this part of MiFID II are set out in the chapter on “Transaction Reporting”.
