LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Banks in the European Union can
continue buying and selling EU-listed shares traded in sterling
on platforms in the City of London after the Brexit transition
period ends in December, the bloc's securities watchdog said on
Monday.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set out
its revised "share trading obligation", or STO, that mandates
where banks and other users of stock markets must trade
EU-listed shares after Dec. 31, when Britain's full access to
the bloc ends.
Shares listed on exchanges inside the bloc can still be
traded on platforms in London if they are traded in sterling,
ESMA said in a statement, meaning that trades in euros must be
carried out inside the bloc.
London-based pan-European platforms Cboe, the London Stock
Exchange's Turquoise, and Aquis Exchange trade shares listed on
EU exchanges, but it was unclear if this would have to end on
Dec. 31 for their bloc-based customers.
"This revised guidance aims at addressing the specific
situation of the small number of EU issuers whose shares are
mainly traded on UK trading venues in pounds," ESMA said.
ESMA said it has done the "maximum possible" to avoid a
clash with Britain over where shares must be traded from
January.
Britain, however, has yet to set out its own rules on
trading of EU-listed shares by investors from outside the bloc.
A clash between the EU and UK approaches could split
trading, a step that banks says would harm prices.
Cboe, Turquoise and Aquis have already opened hubs in the EU
to offer euro-denominated trading in EU-listed shares to avoid
disruption to clients from such a clash.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)