ESMA Releases Quarterly Liquidity Assessment and Systematic Internaliser Data Update

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator, has published its latest quarterly liquidity assessment for bonds and updated data for systematic internaliser (SI) calculations under MiFID II and MiFIR. This update includes insights on equity, bond, and other non-equity instruments.

For this period, ESMA has identified 1,233 bonds classified as liquid, meaning they meet transparency standards required for EU trading. These liquidity assessments are updated quarterly based on metrics like daily trading activity and are reflected in the Financial Instruments Transparency System (FITRS). Bonds deemed liquid today will adhere to these transparency requirements from 18 November 2024 to 16 February 2025.

In addition, ESMA has published data on SI calculations covering trade volumes from 1 April to 30 September 2024, which includes 25,819 equity instruments, 146,127 bonds, and 6,214 derivative subclasses. Investment firms must perform SI evaluations by 15 November 2024.

The complete data is available via FITRS, with XML files released on 31 October 2024.