Trax invites firms to test readiness ahead of MiFiD II

Provider of capital market data, trade matching and regulatory reporting services Trax has launched a validation engine that allows institutional firms to test their readiness for MiFiD II transparency rules, called Approved Publication Arrangement (APA) Demonstrator.

The company claims the APA Demonstrator, built in close collaboration with the industry, is capable of providing an early opportunity for firms to view the effect of MiFiD II trade reporting (pre- and post-trade transparency) regime ahead of the implementation date, expected in early January 2018.

Adding to the APA Demonstrator, Trax has developed complementary solutions to help firms test and analyze the outcome of the new transparency rules under MiFiD II, such as the Systematic Internaliser (SI) determination to assess “whether a firm would be an SI at instrument level”; Liquid classification and specific analysis tools to observe compliance in trading activity.

Geoffroy Vander Linden, Head of Business Development, Regulatory Reporting and Post-Trade Services at Trax, said: “MiFID II pre- and post-trade reporting obligations will impact all areas of the trading lifecycle, encompassing sales, trading, research and operations and will have implications across the market including both investor and dealer firms.”

“The pre-MiFID II transparency tools available today from Trax, including the APA Demonstrator, are helping firms engage with their regulatory obligations in a secure environment, ultimately supporting their firm-wide preparations”, he concluded.

The announced tools that analyze financial services firms’ compliance under MiFiD II will be available through Trax Insight™, that among a variety of services, it facilitates reporting to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) of France, Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) of the Netherlands, as well as the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). Its authority transaction rejection rate is at 0.002%, according to Trax.