6.III.4 Identity disclosure versus anonymity

Post-trade information can include the identity of a party to a completed trade and/or its investment firm that executed the order on the clients’ behalf. However, post-trade information can also be anonymous. Without going in too much detail here, from the ISD to MiFID II the EU in principle only required anonymous post-trade information.1 As a general rule, the venue of execution is displayed (e.g. the RM or MTF), whilst party and investment firm identity remain undisclosed. ‘As a general rule’, since SIs were under MiFID I in principle required to display their identity in post-trade reports,2 a requirement which has been tightened under MiFID II. The substantive rules are examined in the following chapters.3 What matters here is that post-trade data has predominantly been anonymous under the ISD, MiFID I, and MiFID II post-trade transparency obligations. From the ISD to MiFID II the details of the execution venue (sometimes including SIs) needed to be published under EU equity post-trade transparency regulation.4