With Act No. 115/2021 on Markets for Financial Instruments, the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) was implemented into Icelandic law. The aim of the legislation is to ensure transparency, strengthen investor protection, and increase investor confidence. The law changed various important rules regarding how securities trading should be conducted. Extensive changes were proposed regarding requirements for regulated markets, multilateral trading facilities, and investment firms. Among other things, increased requirements are made for transparency, investor protection and business practices, board governance, and the general organization of investment firms and regulated markets.
Before a client can engage in securities trading through Arion Bank, the bank is required to obtain information about the client's knowledge and experience in trading financial instruments. Based on this information, the bank is obligated to assess whether the requested transactions are appropriate. It is important that all questions are answered conscientiously so that the answers provide an accurate picture of which transactions are appropriate for the client. If there have been changes in the client's circumstances, they are encouraged to update their answers so that the assessment provides an accurate picture of their needs at any given time. In addition to answering questions, the client needs to sign a new securities service agreement and accept updated general market terms following the implementation of the new legislation. This can be done simply by clicking the button below.
When investing in financial instruments, it's important to know what costs and related fees accompany the transactions and how they will affect returns. With the implementation of the MiFID II directive, securities firms are required to provide customers or potential customers with advance information about all costs and related fees. The bank's cost handbook provides an overview of costs and fees for investments in stocks and bonds, with the aim of giving investors increased and better oversight of the costs associated with investments in financial instruments and their impact on returns.
In addition to the cost handbook, investors are directed to the price list for securities and pension services of the bank, both of which can be found here below.
General Market Terms for Securities Trading
Characteristics and Risk Factors of Financial Instruments
Client Classification - Information Document
Sustainability - Arion Bank Information Page
Arion Bank's Conflicts of Interest Policy
Securities and Pension Services Price List
Overview of Costs and Related Fees for Investments in Financial Instruments
If you are not already engaged in securities trading or have a custody account with Arion Bank, it's easy to establish securities trading by clicking the button below.
Legal entities are required to have a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) to trade registered securities from 1 September 2021.
The purpose of this requirement is to enable international supervisory authorities to monitor transactions undertaken by individual legal entities, thereby strengthening oversight of systemic risk and supporting the investigation of any misconduct related to securities trading.
To trade in listed securities, all individuals with foreign citizenship must provide the bank with a national client identifier (NCI).
An NCI is an international identifier for individuals that financial institutions use when reporting information to regulatory authorities.
If a customer has comments regarding the handling of a complaint by the bank, they are advised to review the following:
Arion Bank's Rules on Complaint Handling (currently only in Icelandic)