EC announces one-year Mifid II delay
The European Commission has confirmed it will delay the implementation of the Mifid II regulation by one year.
In a statement, the EU body announced that the widely-anticipated delay would be enforced to “take account of the exceptional technical implementation challenges faced by regulators and market participants”.
The one-year extension means Mifid II, which aims to create a more competitive and integrated EU financial market, will now apply from January 3 2018.
Jonathan Hill, commissioner for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union, said: “Given the complexity of the technical challenges highlighted by [the European Securities and Markets Authority], it makes sense to extend the deadline for Mifid II.
“We will therefore give people another year to prepare properly and make the necessary changes to their systems. Meanwhile, we are pressing ahead with the level II legislation to implement Mifid II and expect to announce those measures shortly.”
The European Commission statement added: “The extension of the deadline is strictly limited to what is necessary to allow the technical implementation work to be finalised.”