The European Securities and Markets Authority, the European Union’s financial markets regulator, has issued a cluster of updates covering trading, post-trade infrastructure, investor protection and central counterparties. Recent communications include new transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments, supervisory briefings on algorithmic trading and central counterparty practices, as well as consultations on post-trade risk reduction and collateral rules. The sequence of publications reflects a broad effort to refine how markets function and how risks are managed across trading venues and clearing systems.
In the area of trading and market data, the authority has published the results of the annual transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments and has simplified MiFID II and MiFIR obligations on market data. These steps are designed to clarify how transparency thresholds apply and to reduce complexity in data provision requirements for market participants. In parallel, a supervisory briefing on algorithmic trading has been issued to support consistent supervisory practices across the European Union, signalling continued scrutiny of automated strategies and their impact on market integrity and resilience.
Post-trade and central clearing arrangements are another focal point. The authority is consulting on post-trade risk reduction services under EMIR 3 and has set out clearing thresholds under EMIR 3, aiming to calibrate when firms must centrally clear derivatives and how risk reduction mechanisms are treated. A separate consultation covers guarantees as central counterparty collateral and certain aspects of central counterparty investment policy, along with a supervisory briefing on the AAR representativeness obligation, to shape how collateral is managed and how margin models capture risk. On the investor side, the European Banking Authority and the securities regulator are consulting on revised suitability assessment requirements for banks and investment firms, while the authority is reminding firms of their obligations under contracts for difference product intervention measures amid rising offerings of perpetual futures, underscoring continued attention to retail investor protection and complex leveraged products.
