Act no. 115/2021 (in Icelandic) on Markets in Financial Instruments entered into force on 1 September 2021.The Act implements the provisions of the MiFID II Directive in addition to giving legal force to the MiFIR Regulation and two Commission Delegated Regulations of the EU.
The scope of MiFID II is broader than the MiFID I Regulation and includes, for example, structured deposits. A new kind of trading platform, an Organised Trading Facility, is introduced. More requirements are also placed on the granting of authorisation, organisational requirements, investor protection and the business practices of investment firms.
The MiFIR Regulation includes extensive pre and post-trade transparency requirements. In addition, the Central Bank of Iceland, together with other competent authorities in the EEA, is empowered to participate in the marketing, distribution or sale of certain financial products, structured deposits and structured deposits with certain characteristics, subject to certain conditions being met. Intervention powers may also extend to specific financial activities or practices in the financial market. ESMA and EBA also have temporary product intervention powers.
Delegated Acts
- Delegated regulations that have legal force in Icelandic law deal, on the one hand, with the organisational requirements and operating conditions of investment firms (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/565) and, on the other hand, on definitions, portfolio compression and supervisory measures regarding product interventions and positions (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/567).
- Regulation (Icelandic) on the protection of financial instruments and customers' funds, product development obligations and on the payment and reception of fees, commissions or any kind of benefit implements Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 .
- Other delegated acts in the MiFID II and MiFIR regulations are implemented with the rules of the Central Bank of Iceland.
- The Central Bank of Iceland also relies on ESMA's guidelines, which are based on MiFID II and MiFIR, on supervisory practices. An overview of the guidelines can be found on the Central Bank's website.
Useful links
- ESMA information page on MiFID II
- ESMA's questions and answers on MiFID II and MiFIR
- ESMA's Interactive Single Rulebook
- MiFID II
- MiFIR
- The EU Commission's overview of the delegated acts of the MiFID II Directive
- The EU Commission's overview of the delegated acts of MiFIR
- Report of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (Icelandic) from 2016 on the main changes brought about by MiFID II and MiFIR.
The Central Bank of Iceland accepts queries regarding MiFID II and MiFIR at the following email address: mifid2@sedlabanki.is