Instead, the regulator said the existing requirement for firms whose products are included in the market abuse regime – legislation which aim to reduce instances of market abuse –will remain in place.
“Firms would be expected to respond in a reasonable timeframe to reasonable requests from clients for copies of tapes without a charge,” it said in the minutes of its latest MiFID II Implementation Roundtable.
MiFID II aims to improve the functioning of financial markets in light of the 2008 global financial crisis and improve investor protection, and is currently being turned into legislation by the European Securities and Markets Authority.
It is the revised form of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, the framework of EU legislation for investment intermediaries and the organised trading of financial instruments introduced in November 2007.
An FCA conference on MiFID II will be held on 19 October this year focused on the “implementation of markets and wholesale issues, with communication on retail issues taking place through other means”.
In its minutes, the regulator also said it will not change its rules on platform trail commission – ongoing payments from providers to advisers – which will be banned following the April 2016 “sunset clause”.
It added that it will not alter pre-retail distribution review trail off-platform, and has always expected that trail would diminish as a percentage of income over time as a product switch where advice is given will result in trail being switched off.
This comes alongside the news this morning that the majority of UK-based advisory firms have made significant changes to their business models in the run up to the sunset clause, with 75% or more of their revenue coming from platforms through fees.
