The European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") has launched two major projects at the request of a number of National Competent Authorities ("NCAs"): the Instrument Reference Data Project and the Trade Repositories Project. The former envisages ESMA providing a central facility in relation to instrument and trading data and the calculation of transparency and liquidity thresholds required in relation to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation ("MiFIR"), while under the latter ESMA is to provide a single access point to trade repositories data under EMIR.
The request involves a delegation of some of the NCAs' tasks related to data collection requirements under MiFIR and the Market Abuse Directive to ESMA, as well as the creation of a central access point for regulators to data of the EU's six trade repositories. ESMA will collect data directly from market infrastructures, and make it available to NCAs and the public through a centralized system. Centralization of these functions is expected to save on costs compared with building similar systems in each country, lowering the burden on the financial system and EU taxpayers, while also working towards harmonization and support of the single market. The Instrument Reference Data Project is expected to go live in early 2017, and the Trade Repositories Project in 2016.
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