On July 20, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released a template (Template) to determine whether investment firms are systematic internalizers (SIs). Under the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), an SI is an investment firm which, on an organized, frequent systematic and substantial basis, deals on its own account when executing client orders outside a regulated market, a multilateral trading facility or an organized trading facility without operating a multilateral system.

The Template will be used to publish the first set of figures necessary for investment firms to assess whether they are SIs in specific financial instruments on August 1.

The Template can be downloaded here, with ESMA’s accompanying press release available here.