On February 25, ESMA published a speech by ESMA Executive Director Verena Ross on the issues surrounding the implementation of MiFID II.

The issues include the following:

• ESMA will publish a discussion paper on MiFID II technical standards once the European Parliament has approved the final text of MiFID II.
• More frequent processing of requests and issuance of opinions on pre-trade waivers by ESMA.
• ESMA expects to be involved in the decisions on the compatibility of national competent authorities’ proposed position limits for commodity derivatives.
• Information on the transparency and micro-structural regimes provided for in Level 2 will be maintained and published by ESMA, together with ensuring consistent implementation and monitoring their effects on the EU markets, with periodic recalibration of these parameters where required.
• Q&As will be issued by ESMA when the MiFID II Level 2 measures enter into force.   Speech.