About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Final ESMA Report on MiFID II and MiFIR Technical Standards Recommends XML and ISO 20022 for Regulatory Data Reporting

Subscribe to our newsletter

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its final report on Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for Markets in Financial Instruments II (MiFID II) and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR). The report covers many aspects of the directive and regulation, and concludes debate over market data reporting, recommending that transaction and instrument reference data should be reported under MiFIR in a common XML format in accordance with ISO 20022 methodology.

The final report on technical standards for MiFID II and MiFIR was published this week, along with final reports on technical standards for Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR). The reports have been sent to the European Commission, which has three months to approve them ahead of MAR entering into force in 2016 and MiFID II and MiFIR in 2017. CSDR entered into force back in 2014.

The final report on MiFID II and MiFIR, includes rules that will bring the majority of non-equity products into a robust regulatory regime and move a significant part of over the counter trading onto regulated platforms. Key rules aim to introduce fairer, safer and more efficient markets, greater transparency and stronger investor protection through improved disclosure.

The regulatory reporting requirement has been the subject of great debate over past months, with respondents to the latest ESMA public consultation considering the implementation challenges of formats including FpML, ISO 20022, TREM (a custom XML format defined by ESMA and used for transaction reporting and instrument reference data exchange between competent authorities), IFX, FIX and XBRL.

The formats perceived by respondents to be least challenging and preferred are ISO 20022 and FpML. A study by ESMA to assess which format is best for transaction and reference data reporting concluded that ISO 20022 is most suitable, leading ESMA to state in the report: “Having considered the feedback to the consultation paper, as well as results of the study, ESMA has decided that transactions and instrument reference data should be reported under MiFIR in a common XML format and in accordance with ISO 20022 methodology.”

ISO 20022 is the ISO-approved standardisation methodology for financial messages and data sets. It is syntax-independent, but includes a set of XML design rules to convert message models into XML schemas whenever the use of the ISO 20022 XML-based syntax is preferred. The ISO standard has also been selected for post-trade transparency reports, aligning these with the format used for reference data, but in this case concerning only the way information is represented, for example the same codes are used to represent the same value, and not how data is collected or published.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: How to simplify and modernize data architecture to unleash data value and innovation

15 May 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes The data needs of financial institutions are growing at pace as new formats and greater volumes of information are integrated into their systems. With this has come greater complexity in managing and governing that data, amplifying pain points along data pipelines....

BLOG

Bloomberg Launches Digital Asset Exposure Analytics to Help Investors Manage Crypto Exposure

Bloomberg has launched, a new service, Digital Asset Exposure Analytics, designed to provide investors with greater visibility into their cryptocurrency exposure across a wide range of securities and investment products. Covering 80,000 individual securities and 37,000 funds and exchange-traded products, the tool is aimed primarily at asset managers and financial institutions seeking to strategically manage...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit London

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...