The EU securities trading and post-trading policy framework has been developed over the last 15 years with a set of legislations covering trade execution, clearing and settlement (MiFID / MiFIR, EMIR, CSDR) and also other activities such as securities financing transactions. Progress has been made with the implementation of these legislations, and also with international standards such as the IOSCO PFMIs, in the efficiency and safety of EU securities markets and also their harmonisation.

Many issues are however still pending. Regarding trading, different areas are being considered in the context of the review of MiFID / MiFIR, such as transparency requirements, data provision, market structure and trading obligations, where these legislations have not achieved their objectives so far. MiFID calibrations and rules also need updating with the impacts of Brexit.

In the clearing area, EMIR has improved the mitigation of counterparty risks and has been updated to take into account the impacts of Brexit with stricter requirements for third-countries operating in the EU with systemic relevance. An EU CCP recovery and resolution regime aiming to ensure the resilience of EU CCPs and that a possible recovery or resolution can be appropriately managed has been adopted. As for settlement, progress has been made in terms of efficiency and risk mitigation thanks to the implementation of CSDR and of TARGET2-Securities. However further harmonisation is still needed at the cross-border level with many of the barriers identified 20 years ago in the Giovannini report still in place, particularly the legal ones. A review of CSDR is programmed for 2021. Another question is whether the fragmentation of post-trading market infrastructures can be reduced. Finally technologies such as DLT could have significant impacts in this area that still need materializing.