Following announcements by EU and UK regulators today granting regulatory flexibility in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Adam Farkas, Chief Executive of AFME, said:

“In light of the unprecedented COVID-19 situation across Europe, banks are currently focusing on managing business continuity issues and are rightly prioritising the need to provide liquidity and manage market risks.

“We therefore welcome the regulatory flexibility shown by ESMA and the FCA today in response to the imminent implementation of the tick size regime. Implementing major systems changes across multiple firms’ trading technology infrastructure at a time of heightened market volatility would introduce unnecessary operational risk, so we very much welcome the prompt action shown today.”

-ENDS-