MAR 5 Annex 1 Illustrative form of requirements: Alternative Trading Systems

The firm must, in relation to the operation of an ATS, have appropriate arrangements in place designed to ensure:

(a)

efficient pricing and the equitable treatment of users;

(b)

a trading methodology that enables fair and orderly trading; and

(c)

that sufficient information about quotes, orders and completed transactions is made available to users.

(1)

This requirement only applies in relation to shares traded on an ATS and only if those shares are also traded on a UK RIE or a regulated market.

(2)

The firm must, in relation to the operation of an ATS, have appropriate arrangements in place to make publicly available information about quotes or orders or both relating to sharestraded on the ATS that the ATS displays or advertises to users.

(1)

This requirement only applies in relation to investmentstraded on an ATS if those investments, or investments that are substantially similar in nature, are traded on a UK RIE , a regulated market or an EEA commodities market.

(2)

The firm must, in relation to the operation of an ATS, have appropriate arrangements in place to make publicly available information about the price, volume and time of completed transactions for investmentstraded on the ATS. For large transactions in debt securities, an indication that volume exceeded a certain figure (not being less than £7 million or its equivalent) instead of the actual volume is sufficient.

Information about quotes, orders or transactions shall be treated as being publicly available under requirements 2 and 3 if it is available on reasonable commercial terms. The firm may make information publicly available under those requirements by publishing the information itself (for example, by posting data on a web-site) or by arranging with a third party (such as an information vendor, regulated market or consolidated quotation system) to publish the information.

(1)

For the purposes of requirements 1, 2 and 3, information about quotes, orders and transactions should be made available in a timely manner. In particular, information should be made available to users and to subscribers close to the time when the quote or order is given or the transaction is executed. Information may be made available to persons other than users or subscribers with a reasonable delay.

(2)

The firm may make information about a large order, quote or transaction available to users under requirement 1 or publicly available under requirement 2 or 3 at a time later than that specified in (1), but only to the extent reasonably necessary to protect the interests of the relevant user who placed the order, gave the quote or executed the transaction.

(1)

The firm must, in relation to the operation of an ATS :

(a)

have appropriate arrangements in place that enable it to monitor transactions undertaken on the ATS to identify suspected breaches of any rules relating to fair and orderly trading on the ATS and conduct that may constitute market abuse ;

(b)

report suspected material breaches of its rules relating to fair and orderly trading on the ATS or suspected market abuse to the FSA and other appropriate organisations; and

(c)

supply relevant information to the FSA as soon as practicable regarding the suspected breaches or suspected market abuse and provide full assistance to the FSA in investigating the suspected breach or suspected market abuse .

(2)

The functions referred to in (1) may be performed by the firm itself or by another person (such as the operator of a regulated market for the particular investment ) under a formal arrangement with the firm .

(3)

In (1), "rules" includes protocols, procedures or terms of, or established under, any agreement between the firm and a user.

In requirements 1, 2, 3 and 6, "appropriate" means appropriate having regard to the nature of the system, the nature and liquidity of investments traded on the system, the experience of users, the extent to which the wider market in the particular investment involves private customers, and the significance of the system in the overall market for the investment and, also in relation to requirement 6, the susceptibility of the investment traded to market abuse.

(1)

The firm must, in relation to the operation of an ATS, provide, or be reasonably satisfied that there is publicly available, sufficient information to enable users who are customers to make a reasonably informed judgement about the value of each investmenttraded on the system and the risks associated with that investment.

(2)

In (1), "sufficient" means sufficient taking into account the nature and experience of users of the system who are customers and the type of investmenttraded on the system.

(3)

For the purposes of (1), if an investment is admitted to trading on an RIE , a regulated market or an EEA commodities market (and is not suspended from trading on the RIE or market), the firm may be reasonably satisfied that there is publicly available sufficient information about that investment to enable users who are customers to make a reasonably informed judgement about the investment.