European Securities and Markets Authority outlines reporting burden reductions including MiFIR transparency calculations based on reused transaction data

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set out how it will support the European Commission’s push to simplify the EU regulatory framework by reducing duplicative reporting requirements across its remit, while maintaining financial stability, orderly markets and investor protection. Initial workstreams cover MiFIR transparency and transaction reporting, as well as the digitalisation of corporate sustainability and financial disclosures. Under the MiFIR Review, ESMA intends to discontinue the specific reporting flows from trading venues used since 2018 for transparency and volume cap calculations and instead perform these calculations using transaction data already reported to national competent authorities and ESMA under Article 26 of MiFIR. ESMA plans to publish equity transparency calculations based on transaction data following the entry into force of the revised technical standards on equity transparency, expected by the end of 2025, and to propose similar changes to the technical standards on the volume cap regime later in 2025. ESMA will also stop the voluntary publication of quarterly systematic internaliser calculations data from the beginning of 2025. Other initiatives cited include consolidating and aligning reference data used for transaction reporting and transparency, aligning certain transaction data requirements with other reporting regimes such as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), and a consultation under the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) to phase in digital sustainability disclosures and ease the burden of electronic disclosures for notes to the financial statements. ESMA will continue engaging with stakeholders to identify additional areas for simplification and burden reduction, with a further proposal on volume cap technical standards flagged for later in 2025.