The new Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) came into effect on 3 July. After the last remaining Level 2 documents were released between March and June 2016, AMAFI published a briefing paper in mid-July on the main features of the new system (AMAFI / 16-32).
AMAFI also responded to the AMF’s consultation on amendments to its General Regulation and policy to accommodate MAR. The association underlined the importance of clarity and provided feedback on the AMF’s proposals (AMAFI / 16-26).
Furthermore, AMAFI published a Q&A on MAR implementation. The Q&A, which draws heavily on discussions with AMF staff (AMAFI / 16-29), is to be expanded to cover issues that are still under review, including market soundings.
MAR’s definition of “investment recommendations” raises challenges because of the potential impact on procedures for producing and distributing such recommendations. This is why AMAFI endeavoured to identify the factors underpinning the definition with a view to providing operational guidance about the communications likely to be captured by the definition. AMAFI will be talking about these aspects with the AMF in the near future.
AMAFI has begun updating its Market Abuse Guide to build in changes stemming from MAR and capitalise on feedback about the existing system. As part of this, it plans to extend the classification of potential market abuse and indicators of abuse, while accommodating the peculiarities of certain markets and products, such as commodities and mid caps. This will form the groundwork for joint discussions with the AMF. AMAFI is looking to publish the new guide before the end of the year.
