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Six of the industry’s leading institutions have launched the Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs) and Approved Reporting Mechanisms (ARMs) association, to be more commonly known as APARMA.
Created by affiliates of Bloomberg, Cboe Europe, Euronext, London Stock Exchange, MarketAxess and Tradeweb Markets, the association represents the interests of companies who operate APAs and ARMs in the EU and UK.
Established under the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), APAs make public post-trade transparency reports in financial instruments that have been traded off-venue, while ARMs report details of transactions to regulators on behalf of investment firms.
The association will represent the views of its members in relation to regulations and laws impacting APA and ARM businesses and the associated supervisory framework and to promote dialogue with policymakers and regulators.
With the rules governing trade and transaction reporting under frequent review and scrutiny, the association will also focus on developing and supporting the adoption of best practice with the common aim of improving industry data quality, transparency and the auditability of transactions in both the EU and UK.
As laws for the two financial markets continue to develop post-Brexit, it is increasingly important to bridge the dialogue between regulators and policymakers to facilitate common solutions for global market participants accessing both markets, initial members of the association said.
Membership of APARMA will be open to all market participants that meet the established membership eligibility criteria.
The activities of the association will be governed by members of APARMA’s executive committee, who are elected by the general membership and are responsible for the executive management of the association.
Chris Smith, head of post-trade services at MarketAxess and first chair of APARMA, says: “It is important that the voices of APA and ARM operators – whose activities are critical to the achievement of policy goals – are heard. APARMA will ensure just that. We are excited about having a new forum within which we can build a better industry dialogue, share best practice and collectively improve the quality of our data and data services.”
David Bullen, secretary general at APARMA, adds: “I look forward to representing the views and interests of existing and new APARMA members, each of which operate and run an important part of financial market infrastructure and who, to-date, have been underrepresented in important industry and regulatory circles.”
