Art. 9 Execution policy | RTS on notification of crypto-asset service provision | MiCA

This article sets out what a notifying entity must submit to the competent authority when it intends to execute orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients.

It directly supports the authorisation process under Article 60(7)(h) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, and should be read alongside Article 78 of that Regulation, which governs the substantive obligations for order execution.

In essence, the notifying entity must hand over its full execution policy, covering how it selects trading venues, obtains client consent, pursues the best possible result for clients, prevents internal misuse of client order information, and demonstrates ongoing compliance.

Important points:

Submit a comprehensive execution policy to the competent authority as part of the notification process, covering venue selection, execution strategies, client consent, and quality monitoring.
Confirm that no remuneration, discount, or non-monetary benefit will be received in return for routing orders to a particular trading platform.
Put in place arrangements to prevent employees from misusing client order information, and to keep clients informed of the execution policy and any material changes to it.

For the purposes of Article 60(7), point (h), of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, the notifying entity that intends to execute orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients shall provide to the competent authority its execution policy, including the following information:

the arrangements ensuring that the client has provided consent on the execution policy prior to the execution of the order;
a list of the trading platforms for crypto-assets on which the notifying entity will rely for the execution of orders and the criteria for the assessment of execution venues included in the execution policy in accordance with Article 78(6) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114;
which trading platforms the notifying entity intends to use for each type of crypto-assets and confirmation that the notifying entity will not receive any form of remuneration, discount or non-monetary benefit in return for routing orders received to a particular trading platform for crypto-assets;
how the execution takes into accout price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature, conditions of custody of the crypto-assets or any other relevant factors that are considered as part of all necessary steps to obtain the best possible result for the client;
where applicable, the arrangements for informing clients that the notifying entity will execute orders outside a trading platform and how the notifying entity will obtain the prior express consent of its client before executing such orders;
how the client is being warned that any specific instructions from a client may prevent the notifying entity from taking the necessary steps, in line with the arrangements that the notifying entity has established and implemented in its execution policy, to obtain the best possible result for the execution of those orders in respect of the elements covered by those instructions;
the selection process for trading venues, execution strategies employed, the arrangements used to analyse the quality of execution obtained and how the notifying entity monitors and verifies that the best possible results were obtained for clients;
the arrangements to prevent the misuse of any information relating to clients’ orders by the employees of the notifying entity;
the arrangements and procedures for how the notifying entity will disclose to clients information on its order execution policy and notify them of any material changes to their order execution policy;
the arrangements to demonstrate compliance with Article 78 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 to the competent authority, upon the request of that competent authority.