MiFID II - Equities (EN)

The persons concerned by the Training Programme are all persons placed under the authority of a professional (or acting on his behalf) subject to prudential supervision by the CSSF, i.e. individuals providing investment advice (“Advisory profile”) or information (“Information profile”) on financial instruments, investment services or ancillary services to clients.

This module is part of the MiFID II Certification.

Based on the ISO definition of equities specifying that an equity instrument is a financial instrument representing an ownership interest in an entity or pool of assets, the content of this module on equities focuses on:

• Main characteristics of equities (based on ISO 10962)
  • Types of equities - Common/ordinary shares, preferred/preference shares, common/ordinary convertible shares, preferred/preference convertible shares, limited partnership shares, depositary receipts on equities, structured instruments, others
  • Attributes of equities - Voting rights, ownership/transfer/sale restrictions, income, payment status, form (bearer/registered)
  • Pricing of equities - Exchange-traded equities, OTC equities, sources of prices, order-driven markets, quote- driven markets
  • Factors influencing the performance of an equity - Supply/demand, earnings, volatility, liquidity, inflation, impact of corporate actions on price, information about the issuer
  • Costs associated with transactions and services involving equities - Brokerage, exchange fees, transaction fees, custody fees
  • Structure of the market for equities
  • Types of markets (regulated, OTC, MTF, OTF, SI) - Equities traded on exchanges, equities traded OTC, equities on MTF, OTF, SI, crossing networks
  • Primary and secondary markets - Initial public offerings (“IPO”); Secondary market trading for equities on exchanges, MTF, OTF, SI, OTC, crossing networks, high frequency trading; depository receipts; private equity
  • Market players - Primary market: Underwriters, lead managers, syndicate members, listing agents, CSDs/ICSDs, exchanges; Secondary market: Brokers/dealers, regulated markets (e.g., exchanges), OTC, MTF, OTF, SI, paying agents, fiscal agents, CSDs/ICSDs, custodians, depositaries; private equity companies
• Financial instruments as investments
  • Market practice - Primary market - IPOs on exchanges, CSDs/ICSDs; Secondary market - On regulated markets (e.g., exchanges), OTC, MTF, OTF, SI, OTC; transaction chain of securities processing; short selling, lending/borrowing equities, CSDs/ICSDs, custody, corporate actions
  • Main risks - Market risk, currency risk, liquidity risk, operational risk
  • Tax aspects - Withholding tax, capital gains tax, transaction taxes, tax reclamation
  • Market forces that impact performance - Industry investor sentiment, inflation, currency rates
  • Understanding instrument’s performance - Market perspective, investor sentiment, volatility, liquidity
  • Documentation related to the instrument - Prospectus, annual reports, shareholder documentation, press coverage

Experienced professional specialists selected on the basis of their in-depth knowledge of markets and financial products under MiFID rules I and II, and ESMA criteria.