Schedule 2: Transitional amendments Part 1 – Amendments to the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation Paragraph 3: Waivers for equity and equity-like instruments
This paragraph of the Schedule substitutes Article 4 MiFIR to allow the FCA to make rules to provide for the waiver of the pre-trade transparency requirements that are set out in Article 3 of MiFIR. For context, Article 3(1) MiFIR requires market operators and investment firms operating a trading venue to make public certain information about a trade in equity and equity-like instruments on a continuous basis, that is, before shares, depositary receipts, exchange traded funds, certificates and other similar financial instruments are traded on a trading venue.
	Paragraph 2 of the new Article 4 limits the FCA’s ability to waive pre-trade transparency requirements for equity and equity-like instruments traded on a venue to circumstances where the FCA considers that doing so is necessary or expedient to advance one or more of its operational objectives. These objectives are set out in FSMA 2000 (see section 1B(3)).
	Paragraph 3 enables the FCA to apply conditions on market operators and investment firms operating trading venues when they are using a waiver.
	Paragraph 4 requires the FCA to monitor the impact of any rules it makes when using this power.
	Paragraph 5 gives the FCA the power to withdraw the use of waivers for specific market operators and investment firms operating a trading venue if it believes that a trading venue is mis-using a waiver (for example, if it is using them to avoid requirements imposed by the rules).