FI Supervision 15: decreased transparency in bond trading

2019-10-17 | Reports MiFID Markets

Transparency on the Swedish bond markets has decreased. This is the conclusion of Finansinspektionen’s (FI) analysis of the impact of the transparency rules that were introduced when the Directive and the Regulation for the securities market entered into force in 2018.

Sweden has had transparency requirements on trading in financial instruments for a long time. Transparency is one of the mechanisms that helps markets function well, in part by ensuring that investors and issuers can make well-founded decisions.

When the Directive and the Regulation for markets in financial instruments – MiFID II and MiFIR – entered into force, they introduced new requirements. The intent was to create harmonised provisions for greater transparency within the EU. However, according to FI's analysis, transparency on the Swedish bond markets has instead decreased since the new rules entered into force. Therefore, FI considers the development to have gone in the wrong direction, and it is important to increase transparency again to improve the conditions for well-functioning markets.

FI will work to increase transparency on the bond markets. This work can occur in several ways. FI is open to participating in discussions with the industry about suggestions for how to self-regulate. FI could also reassess the authorisations granted to market participants to defer the publication of post-trade information.