9.III.1.4 Anonymous publication through an APA

New under MiFID II is that investment firms operating outside an RM or MTF need to make the post-trade data public through a so-called APA.1 APA stands for Approved Publication Arrangement. APAs are introduced by MiFID II to improve the quality of post-trade reporting outside RMs and MTFs, as well as the consolidation of such information.2 APAs are examined in detail in Part III of the research.3 For the moment it is sufficient to note that APAs are not required to publish the identity of the investment firms operating outside RMs and MTFs. In other words, APAs publish anonymous post-trade data. For investment firms operating outside RMs and MTFs that are not SIs, APAs publish the equity post-trade data with a general ‘XOFF’ code.4 Anonymous publication is also the case where an APA publishes the equity post-trade data of an SI. In this situation, the APA uses a generic identifier ‘SINT’.5

Besides required publication through an APA, the equity post-trade transparency regime has partially changed for investment firms operating outside RMs and MTFs. Similar to MiFID I, investment firms operating outside RMs and MTFs that are not SIs are (were) always anonymous in the equity post-trade reports.6 By contrast, under MiFID I whether the SI was identified in post-trade reports was left to the investment firm’s discretion (provided the SI published quarterly trading statistics). MiFID II is more SI-friendly in this respect, since MiFID II does not require the publication of SI identity in the APA reports. The MiFID II provision in effect puts more emphasis on SI protection than on equity post-trade transparency (i.e. the identity of the SI is not published in the equity post-trade data).7