The French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) announced that it is holding a public consultation on changes to Books III and V of its General Regulation, which deal with investment services providers and market infrastructures respectively. This marks the final stage before implementation of the new framework for markets in financial instruments on 3 January 2018.
Comprising a directive (MiFID II), a regulation (MiFIR), a delegated directive and more than 40 delegated regulations containing implementation rules procedures, the new MiFID II regulatory framework for markets in financial instruments will come into effect on 3 January 2018. The directive was transposed into France’s Monetary and Financial Code through two executive orders, dated June 2016 and June 2017 respectively, and through two decrees. The delegated directive’s provisions were transposed into the General Regulation by means of an order dated 3 July 2017.
A final revision for the General Regulation
To complete the process of updating its General Regulation, the AMF still has to amend a number of existing provisions, particularly those dealing with the authorisation process for investment services providers, the authorisation procedure for the operation of a multilateral trading facility, and position limits. It also needs to introduce a number of provisions, including provisions for operators of organised trading facilities and provisions for data services providers. It is these provisions that are the subject of this consultation. Ahead of the 3 January 2018 deadline, the AMF is also proposing to amend its General Regulation by deleting a significant number of provisions to accommodate provisions contained in the Delegated Regulation of 25 April 2016 and in MIFIR, which are directly applicable. In addition, it is proposing to remove from its General Regulation the provisions transposed into the Monetary and Financial Code by Executive Order 2017-1107 of 22 June 2017, in particular those relating to client categorisation.
The consultation also addresses the regime for crowdfunding investment advisers and financial investment advisers. These advisers were previously governed by domestic law, but under MiFID II they are required to be subject to rules that are at least analogous to the organisational and business conduct rules applicable to investment firms. In that respect, the proposed amendments to the General Regulation take account of the transposition works carried out in June 2016 and June 2017 in the Monetary and Financial Code.
A new-look format to improve clarity
Along with MiFID II implementation, France decided to separate the legal status of fund management companies from that of investment firms to avoid to fund managers any gold-plating of European rules. As a result, any entity that exclusively carries on a collective management activity will no longer have the investment firm status and will not be subject to MiFID II obligations. To ensure greater clarity, the AMF has therefore changed the way the document is structured and renumbered the provisions of the General Regulation.