On May 4, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report (Final Report) setting out an amendment to the draft Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) regulatory technical standards (RTS) on transaction reporting (published in September 2015).

The amendment proposed by ESMA is to correct an inadvertent omission in draft RTS 22. The amendment clarifies that a transfer of collateral is not to be considered a “transaction” subject to reporting obligations under MiFIR. ESMA notes that such transactions are not “susceptible to market abuse” and would create “white noise” for regulator systems.

ESMA notes in the Final Report that the amendment has been submitted to the European Commission (EC), and ESMA expects that it will be considered in the EC’s final endorsement of RTS 22.

The Final Report can be found here.

ESMA’s accompanying press release can be found here.