By Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union said on Thursday that member states and the European Parliament have reached a deal on updating the bloc’s “MiFID” securities trading rules.
The EU has been reviewing its securities trading rules to reflect advances in trading technology and also the departure of Britain from the bloc, presenting new competition to EU markets.
“The agreement reached today imposes a general ban on ‘payment for order flow’ (PFOF), a practice through which brokers receive payments for forwarding client orders to certain trading platforms,” a statement from the EU member states’ council said.
Under the deal, member states that already allow PFOF will be exempt from the ban provided it is only offered to clients in that member state.
“However, this practice must be phased out by 30 June 2026,” the statement said.
The deal, which needs formal rubber-stamping from the full parliament and EU states, also sets up ‘consolidated tapes’ that would give investors a snapshot of stock and bond prices on markets to help find the best deals.
“Market data from all trading platforms will be included in consolidated tapes, which will aim to publish the information as close as possible to real time,” the statement said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by David Evans and Andrew Heavens)
