MiFID II: the ESMA specifies its requirements regarding reference data for financial instruments via a Q&A

MiFID 2 imposes certain conditions regarding the provision of reference data for financial instruments. To enable professionals to anticipate the implementation of these conditions, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) encourages them to read the Q&A published on 20 December 2016 by the ESMA.

The purpose of this document is to clarify the information that should be completed, through a series of 7 questions and answers, by trading platforms and systematic internalisers when providing reference data for financial instruments, in accordance with Article 27 of the MiFIR and the supporting Commission Delegated Regulation of 14 July 2016.

The objective of the Q&A is to provide market participants with the details to enable them to gather and provide the information required to populate the European database for financial instruments under the following fields:

• Field 5: Issuer or trading platform operator identifier via the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI - the only authorised identifier)

• Field 10: Date of request for admission to trading

• Field 11: Date of request for admission to trading or date of first trade.

Moreover, in accordance with Article 26 of the MiFIR and the supporting Commission Delegated Regulation of 28 July 2016, it should be noted that each investment firm subject to reporting obligations should identify corporate clients by using their LEI code. Investment firms are also requested to ensure that their clients have an LEI code, prior to performing a transaction related to a financial instrument (as specified under Article 26 of the MiFIR).

For French legal entities and funds subject to French law, requests for obtaining an LEI code should be made to the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).