MAR 5.4 Requirements to be imposed on the Part IV permission of an ATS operator

The FSA proposes to impose the requirements on the Part IV permissions of ATS operators in a way that has regard to the principle in the CESR ATS standards that the standards should be implemented in a differentiated way, taking into account the particular risk to be addressed and each ATS's circumstances.

If a person who proposes to operate an ATS applies for a Part IV permission, the FSA will be minded to impose the requirements under section 43 of the Act (Imposition of requirements).

If a firm that proposes to operate an ATS applies for a variation of Part IV permission to carry on an additional regulated activity necessary to operate the ATS, the FSA will be minded to impose the requirements under section 44 (Variation etc. at request of authorised person) or section 45 (Variation etc. on the Authority's own initiative) of the Act.

In relation to current ATS operators, or firms proposing to operate an ATS that have permission to carry on the regulated activity necessary to operate the ATS, the FSA will be minded to impose the requirements under section 44 or 45 of the Act.

The FSA may decide not to impose particular requirements in particular cases if it is not appropriate to do so. For example, the FSA will be minded not to impose requirements for pre-trade information to be provided to users or published on ATS operators that operate price taking systems or request for quote systems. Also, it will be minded not to impose requirements for publication of post-trade information on ATS operators that operate ATS's that facilitate trading in interest-rate swaps, contractually based investments relating to currency, or debt securities other than benchmark bonds.

The FSA proposes to impose requirements for publication of pre-trade and post-trade information that are no more onerous in relation to an investment than the standard that applies under the Act or relevant national law of another State (as the case may be) to the exchange operating the underlying market for the investment.

MAR 5 Annex 1 G sets out an illustration of the form of requirements that the FSA will be minded to impose on the Part IV permission of an ATS operator. The exact form may vary to take into account the matters referred to in MAR 5.4.2 G. The FSA may also consider setting out more detail in the requirements if the FSA considers it appropriate to do so (for example, if requested to do so by an ATS operator).