MAR 5A Organised trading facilities (OTFs)

This chapter applies to:

1. (1)

   a UK domestic firm which operates an OTF from an establishment in the United Kingdom or elsewhere; or

2. (2)

   an overseas firm which operates an OTF from an establishment in the United Kingdom.

A firm must:

1. (1)

    execute orders on a discretionary basis in accordance with MAR 5A.3.2R;

2. (2)

    unless permitted in MAR 5A.3.5R, not execute any client orders against its proprietary capital or the proprietary capital of any entity that is part of the same group or legal person as the firm; and

3. (3)

    ensure that the OTF does not connect with another OTF in a way which enables orders in the different OTFs to interact.

The discretion which the firm must exercise in executing a client order must be either, or both, of the following:

1. (1)

   the first discretion is whether to place or retract an order on the OTF;

2. (2)

   the second discretion is whether to match a specific client order with other orders available on the OTF at a given time, provided the exercise of such discretion is in compliance with specific instructions received from the client and in accordance with the firm’s obligations under COBS 11.2A (Best execution – MiFID provisions).

[Note: article 20(6) of MiFID]

A firm must not engage in:

1. (1)

   matched principal trading on an OTF operated by it except in bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances and derivatives which have not been declared subject to the clearing obligation in accordance with article 5 of EMIR, and where the client has consented; or

2. (2)

   dealing on own account on an OTF operated by it, excluding matched principal trading, except in sovereign debt instruments for which there is not a liquid market.

[Note: article 20(2) and (3) of MiFID]

For the purposes of MAR 5A.3.5R(2), a “liquid market” means a market for a financial instrument or a class of financial instruments, where there are ready and willing buyers and sellers on a continuous basis, assessed in accordance with the following criteria, taking into consideration the specific market structures of the particular financial instrument or of the particular class of financial instruments:

1. (1)

   the average frequency and size of transactions over a range of market conditions, having regard to the nature and life cycle of products within the class of financial instrument;

2. (2)

   the number and type of market participants, including the ratio of market participants to traded instruments in a particular product; and

3. (3)

   the average size of spreads, where available.

[Note: article 4(1)(25) of MiFID]

A firm engaging in matched principal trading in accordance with MAR 5A.3.5R(1) must establish arrangements to ensure compliance with the definition of matched principal trading.

[Note: article 20(1) and (7) of MiFID]

A firm must:

1. (1)

   in respect of an OTF operated by it, or such a facility it proposes to operate, provide to the FCA a detailed explanation of:

   1. (a)

      why the OTF does not correspond to, and cannot operate as, an MTF, a regulated market or a systematic internaliser;

   2. (b)

      how discretion will be exercised in executing client orders; and

   3. (c)

      its use of matched principal trading; and

2. (2)

   supply the information in (1) to the FCA in writing, by electronic mail to an address for the usual supervisory contact of the firm at the FCA, and obtain an electronic confirmation of receipt.

[Note: article 20(7) of MiFID]

A firm must have:

1. (1)

   transparent rules and procedures for fair and orderly trading;

[Note: article 18(1) of MiFID]

1. (2)

   objective criteria for the efficient execution of orders;

[Note: article 18(1) of MiFID]

1. (3)

   arrangements for the sound management of the technical operations of the facility, including the establishment of effective contingency arrangements to cope with the risks of systems disruption;

[Note: article 18(1) of MiFID]

1. (4)

   transparent rules regarding the criteria for determining the financial instruments that can be traded under its systems;

[Note: subparagraph (1) of article 18(2) of MiFID]

1. (5)

   arrangements to provide, or be satisfied that there is access to, sufficient publicly available information to enable its users to form an investment judgement, taking into account both the nature of the users and the types of instrument traded;

[Note: subparagraph (2) of article 18(2) of MiFID]

1. (6)

   transparent and non-discriminatory rules, based on objective criteria, governing access to its facility and which must be published, maintained and implemented; and

[Note: article 18(3) of MiFID]

1. (7)

   (as between the interests of the OTF, its owners, or the firm and those of the members and participants or users in the sound functioning of the trading venue) arrangements to identify clearly and to manage any conflict with adverse consequences for:

   1. (a)

      the operation of the trading venue for the members and participants or users; or

   2. (b)

      the members and participants or users otherwise.

   [Note: article 18(4) of MiFID]

A firm must:

1. (1)

   ensure the OTF has at least three materially active members or users who each have the opportunity to interact with all the others in respect of price formation;

[Note: article 18(7) of MiFID]

1. (2)

   provide the following to the FCA:

   1. (a)

      a detailed description of the functioning of the OTF, including any links to or participation by a regulated market, an MTF or OTF or systematic internaliser owned by the same firm; and

   2. (b)

      a list of its members, participants and users; and

   [Note: article 18(10) of MiFID and MiFID ITS 19 with regard to the content and format of the description of the functioning of MTFs and OTFs]

2. (3)

   [deleted]

Where a transferable security, which has been admitted to trading on a regulated market, is also traded on an OTF without the consent of the issuer, the firm operating the OTF must not make the issuer subject to any obligation relating to initial, ongoing or ad hoc financial disclosure with regard to that OTF.

[Note: article 18(8) of MiFID]

A firm must ensure that the systems and controls, including procedures and arrangements, used in the performance of its activities are adequate, effective and appropriate for the scale and nature of its business.

MAR 5A.5.1R applies in particular to systems and controls concerning:

1. (1)

   the resilience of the firm’s trading systems;

2. (2)

   its capacity to deal with peak order and message volumes;

3. (3)

   the ability to ensure orderly trading under conditions of severe market stress;

4. (4)

   the effectiveness of business continuity arrangements to ensure the continuity of the OTF’s services if there is any failure of its trading systems, including the testing of the OTF’s systems and controls;

5. (5)

   the ability to reject orders that exceed predetermined volume and price thresholds or which are clearly erroneous;

6. (6)

   the ability to ensure that algorithmic trading systems cannot create or contribute to disorderly trading conditions on the trading venue;

7. (7)

   the ability to ensure that any disorderly trading conditions which do arise from the use of algorithmic trading systems are capable of being managed, including systems to limit the ratio of unexecuted orders to transactions that may be entered into the OTF’s trading system by a member or participant;

8. (8)

   the ability to ensure that the flow of orders is capable of being slowed down if there is a risk of system capacity being reached;

9. (9)

   the ability to limit and enforce the minimum tick size which may be executed on the OTF; and

10. (10)

    the requirement for members and participants to carry out appropriate testing of algorithms, including providing environments to facilitate that testing.

[Note: article 48(1), (4) and (6) of MiFID, MiFID RTS 7, MiFID RTS 9, and MiFID RTS 11]

A firm must:

1. (1)

   have written agreements with all investment firms pursuing a market making strategy on trading venues operated by it (market making agreements);

2. (2)

   have schemes, appropriate to the nature and scale of a trading venue, to ensure that a sufficient number of investment firms enter into market making agreements which require them to post firm quotes at competitive prices with the result of providing liquidity to the market on a regular and predictable basis;

3. (3)

   monitor and enforce compliance with the market making agreements;

4. (4)

   inform the FCA of the content of its market making agreements; and

5. (5)

   provide the FCA with any information it requests which the FCA reasonably requires to be satisfied that the market making agreements comply with this rule.

[Note: article 48(2) and (3) of MiFID and MiFID RTS 8]

A market making agreement in MAR 5A.5.3R(1) must specify:

1. (1)

   the obligations of the investment firm in relation to the provision of liquidity;

2. (2)

   where applicable, any obligations arising, or rights accruing, from the participation in a liquidity scheme mentioned in MAR 5A.5.3R(2); and

3. (3)

   any incentives in terms of rebates or otherwise offered by the firm to the investment firm in order for it to provide liquidity to the OTF on a regular and predictable basis and, where applicable, any other rights accruing to the investment firm as a result of participation in the liquidity scheme.

[Note: article 48(3) of MiFID and MiFID RTS 8]

A firm must have the ability to:

1. (1)

   temporarily halt or constrain trading on the OTF if there is a significant price movement in a financial instrument on the OTF or a related trading venue during a short period; and

2. (2)

   in exceptional cases, cancel, vary, or correct, any transaction.

[Note: article 48(5) of MiFID]

For the purposes of MAR 5A.5.5R, and to avoid significant disruptions to the orderliness of trading, a firm must calibrate the parameters for halting trading in a way which takes into account the following:

1. (1)

   the liquidity of different asset classes and subclasses;

2. (2)

   the nature of the trading venue market model; and

3. (3)

   the types of users.

[Note: article 48(5) of MiFID]

The firm must report the parameters mentioned in MAR 5A.5.6R to the FCA in writing, by electronic mail to an address for the usual supervisory contact of the firm at the FCA, and obtain an electronic confirmation of receipt.

[Note: article 48(5) of MiFID]

A firm must have systems and procedures to notify the FCA if:

1. (1)

   an OTF operated by it is material in terms of the liquidity of the trading of a financial instrument; and

2. (2)

   trading is halted in that instrument.

[Note: article 48(5) of MiFID]

A firm which permits direct electronic access to an OTF it operates must:

1. (1)

   not permit members or participants of the OTF to provide such services unless they are:

   1. (a)

      MiFID investment firms; or

   2. (b)

      CRD credit institutions; or

   3. (c)

      third country firms providing the direct electronic access in the course of exercising rights under article 46.1 of MiFIR; or

   4. (d)

      third country firms providing the direct electronic access in the course of exercising rights under article 47.3 of MiFIR; or

   5. (e)

      third country firms providing the direct electronic access in accordance with the exclusion in article 72 of the RAO; or

   6. (f)

      third country firms which do not come within MAR 5A.5.9R(1)(d) to (f) but are otherwise permitted to provide the direct electronic access under the Act; or

   7. (g)

      firms that come within regulation 30(1A) of the MiFI Regulations and have a Part 4A permission relating to investment services or activities;

2. (2)

   set and apply criteria for the suitability of persons to whom direct electronic access services may be provided;

3. (3)

   ensure that the member or participant of the OTF retains responsibility for adherence to the requirements of MiFID in respect of orders and trades executed using the direct electronic access service;

4. (4)

   set standards for risk controls and thresholds on trading through direct electronic access;

5. (5)

   be able to distinguish and if necessary stop orders or trading on that trading venue by a person using direct electronic access separately from:

   1. (a)

      other orders; and

   2. (b)

      trading by the member or participant providing the direct electronic access; and

6. (6)

   have arrangements to suspend or terminate the provision of direct electronic access on that market by a member or participant in the case of any non-compliance with this rule.

[Note: article 48(7) of MiFID]

Where a firm permits co-location in relation to the OTF, its rules on co-location services must be transparent, fair and non-discriminatory.

[Note: article 48(8) of MiFID and MiFID RTS 10]

A firm’s fee structure, for all fees it charges and rebates it grants in relation to the OTF, must:

1. (1)

   be transparent, fair and non-discriminatory;

2. (2)

   not create incentives to place, modify or cancel orders, or execute transactions, in a way which contributes to disorderly trading or market abuse; and

3. (3)

   impose market making obligations in individual financial instruments or suitable baskets of financial instruments for any rebates that are granted.

[Note: article 48(9) of MiFID and MiFID RTS 10]

A firm must require members and participants of an OTF operated by it to flag orders generated by algorithmic trading in order for the firm to be able to identify the following:

1. (1)

   different algorithms used for the creation of orders; and

2. (2)

   the persons initiating those orders.

[Note: article 48(10) of MiFID]

The firm must adopt tick size regimes for financial instruments as required by a regulatory technical standard made under powers conferred by MiFIR.

[Note: article 49 of MiFID and MiFID RTS 11]

A firm adopting tick sizes in accordance with MAR 5A.5.14R may match orders large in scale at mid-point within the current bid and offer prices.

[Note: article 49 of MiFID and MiFID RTS 11]

The tick size regime referred to in MAR 5A.5.14R must:

1. (1)

   be calibrated to reflect the liquidity profile of the financial instrument in different markets and the average bid-ask spread, taking into account the desirability of enabling reasonably stable prices without unduly constraining further narrowing of spreads; and

2. (2)

   adapt the tick size for each financial instrument appropriately.

[Note: article 49 of MiFID and MiFID RTS 11]

The firm must synchronise the business clocks it uses to record the date and time of any reportable event.

[Note: article 50 of MiFID and MiFID RTS 25]

A firm must:

1. (1)

   clearly inform its users of their respective responsibilities for the settlement of transactions executed in its OTF; and

2. (2)

   have in place the arrangements necessary to facilitate the efficient settlement of the transactions concluded under its systems.

[Note: article 18(6) of MiFID]

[Note: in relation to derivative transactions, MiFID RTS 26 contains requirements on the systems for clearing of such transactions]

A firm must:

1. (1)

   have effective arrangements and procedures relevant to its OTF for the regular monitoring of the compliance by its users with its rules; and

2. (2)

   monitor the transactions undertaken by its users under its systems in order to identify breaches of those rules, disorderly trading conditions, system disruptions in relation to a financial instrument, or conduct that may involve market abuse.

[Note: article 31(1) of MiFID]

A firm must:

1. (1)

    report to the FCA any:

   1. (a)

       significant breaches of the firm’s rules;

   2. (b)

       disorderly trading conditions;

   3. (c)

       conduct that may involve market abuse; and

   4. (d)

       system disruptions in relation to a financial instrument;

2. (2)

    supply the information required under this rule without delay to the FCA and any other authority competent for the investigation and prosecution of market abuse;

3. (3)

    provide full assistance to the FCA, and any other authority competent for the investigation and prosecution of market abuse, in its investigation and prosecution of market abuse occurring on or through the firm’s systems;

4. (4)

    when assessing whether the requirement to inform the FCA immediately of significant infringements of the rules of its trading venue or disorderly trading conditions or system disruptions in relation to a financial instrument applies, consider the signals listed in MAR 1 Annex 3R 1; and

5. (5)

    when assessing whether the requirement to immediately inform the FCA of conduct that may indicate behaviour that is prohibited under the Market Abuse Regulation applies, consider the signals listed in MAR 1 Annex 3R 2.

A firm must:

1. (1)

   not exercise any power under its rules to suspend or remove from trading any financial instrument which no longer complies with its rules, where such a step would be likely to cause significant damage to the interest of investors or the orderly functioning of the trading venue;

2. (2)

   where it does suspend or remove from trading a financial instrument, also suspend or remove derivatives that relate or are referenced to that financial instrument, where necessary to support the objectives of the suspension or removal of the underlying; and

3. (3)

   make public any decision in (2) and notify the FCA of it.

[Note: article 32 of MiFID and MiFID RTS 18]