MiFID II

MiFID II is a very long and detailed piece of legislation (actually, it is made up of several different regulations and directives). It covers a range of different areas and it affects employer companies, share plan participants, share plan administrators and others.

What does MiFID II mean for Employee Share Plans?

All share plan administrators which provide a share sale and purchase service are required to report all transactions to the market regulator. Global Shares Execution Services Limited (Malta) is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (licence number IS/86113).

We provide share plan participants with a more detailed breakdown of fees, costs and charges so that they can see exactly where their money is going.

We take detailed steps to avoid any conflicts of interest arising and, if they do arise, to disclose them to share plan participants.

We ensure that all share plan participants receive what is called “best execution”. For most share plan participants, this means that they get the best possible price for their shares.

We are required to record all telephone calls with clients which relate to the sale or purchase of shares.

MiFID II and Global Shares

What is Transaction Reporting?

Transaction reporting is a requirement for share plan administrators. It requires all share plan administrators, like Global Shares, to report all sales and purchases of shares on what is called a “T+1” basis. This simply means that we have to report the share sale or purchase to the regulator within 24 hours of the day of sale or purchase.
At Global Shares, EquityAdmin and EquityGateway adhere to these requirements, with input from employers and share plan participants.

What Information do we need?

LEI/National Identifier

In order to report the sale and purchase of shares, we need to get certain identifying information. For employer companies and share plan trusts, this is straightforward – we need their Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) . For more information on how to find your LEI, go to https://www.gleif.org/en/

For share plan participants, things are a little more complicated. MiFID II requires us to gather some personal information which makes up what is called the National Identifier.

What is the National Identifier?

The National Identifier is the equivalent of the LEI but for an individual person.

The EU has set out a complex series of rules for establishing the National Identifier for every nationality. We have summarised those rules at the end of this note.

In summary, the National Identifier is one of the following items. The relevant ones are decided by your primary nationality.

• Passport Number
• National ID number
• Tax number
• CONCAT (more on this below

Knowing your National Identifier

How do participants know what their National Identifier is?

This is quite simple. Participants need to look at the table below. They should pick the country of their primary nationality and the list of National Identifiers for that nationality is listed beside it. Each country in the EEA has chosen up to three items to be their National Identifiers. Some countries have chosen three identifiers, some have chosen two identifiers and some just one. We need participants to provide us with the highest priority identifier which they have (ideally the 1st priority).

Examples

• For example, if your primary nationality is the United Kingdom, your National Identifiers are (in order of priority):

1st Priority UK National Insurance number
2nd Priority CONCAT

• If your primary nationality is Czech Republic, your National Identifiers are (in order of priority):

1st Priority National identification number (Rodné č íslo)
2nd Priority Passport Number
3rd Priority CONCAT

• If your primary nationality is Ireland, your National Identifier is CONCAT
• If you primary nationality is the US . (or any country outside the E E A . ), your National Identifiers are (in order of priority):

1st Priority National Passport Number
2nd Priority CONCAT