On august 26th 2017, the Legislative Decree no.129 of august 3rd 2017, implementing ‘’Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of may 15th 2014 on markets in financial instruments amending the Directives 2002/92/EC and 2011/61/EU, and as amended by the European Parliament and Council Directive 2016/1034/EU of june 23rd 2016, and adapting the national legislation to the provisions of regulation (EU) No 648/2012, as amended by regulation (EU) 2016/1033 of the European Parliament and of the Council of june 23rd 2016. "

The so-called Mifid II is considered one of the most important directives in the field of financial intermediaries, meant not only to resume the objectives of the original directive (Mifid I), but to amplify its activity range.

The objective was to increase the transparency of trading and protect the investors through delegating responsibility to the intermediaries and strengthening the powers of supervisory bodies.

The subjects affected by the new rules are banks, Savings management companies, investment companies, regulated market management bodies, banks and companies that offer consulting services and asset management and Energy & Commodity player.

MIFID II aims to: strengthen existing European financial markets legislation; ensure that organized trading takes place on regulated platforms; introduce rules on algorithmic and high frequency trading; improve transparency and oversight of financial markets; enhance investor protection and improve conduct of business behavior rules, as well as conditions for competition in trading and clearing of financial instruments.

The individual savers will, therefore, have an option of investing and the investment companies will be able to provide cross-border investment services, in a simpler way and at the same conditions in all of the EU states. Given that the Mifid II shares the same objectives as the original 2004 directive, various provisions are provided to ensure that investors are properly informed, deal with potential conflicts of interest between the parties and require adequate profiling of the individual saver.

Another very important aspect regards the interaction of the company with the market, its clients and all of the subjects involved, specially when it comes to raising the level of information to be provided to the customer on financial products and advice. In the new type of consulting system as described in MIFID II, the intermediary must explain to the client in a clear and transparent manner the level and type of advice, the degree of autonomy and independence he manages and the remuneration that the client must recognize.

Therefore, building on the already existing standards, MIFID II requires demanding prerequisits to all the subjects involved in financial market, in order to manage the organizzational change in a more efficient mannor.

MIFIR, on the other hand, regulates uniform requirements related to the disclosure of trading data to the public. The legislation indicates the powers of intervention on the financial products conferred to the competent authorities, the Esma and Albe.

Lastly, there is a single discipline within the financial system of the whistleblowing institution.