EUROPEAN UNION: MEPs vote in laws to regulate financial markets and curb high-frequency trading

Wednesday April 16 2014

Comprehensive rules to govern financial markets were adopted by Parliament on Tuesday 15 April 2014. These rules are designed to close loopholes in the existing legislation, so as to ensure that financial markets are safer as well as more efficient, investors are better protected, high-frequency trading is regulated and speculative commodity trading is curbed.

The new rules will apply to investment firms, market operators (trading on stock or financial markets) and services providing post-trade transparency information in the EU. They are set out in two pieces of legislation, a directly applicable regulation dealing inter alia with transparency and access to trading venues and a directive governing authorisation and organisation of trading venues and investor protection.

On Tuesday, Parliament also voted on rules for Central Securities Depositories (CSDs), the bodies responsible for settling securities trades. With these rules in place, the entire trading process will be regulated, introducing more safety and efficiency at EU level and opening the market for CSDs.

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