Personal Account Dealing: MiFID Article 29 Explained

Staff in financial firms trade for themselves as well as for clients, which creates obvious risks: trading ahead of a client, trading on confidential information, or advising friends to trade. EU rules deal with this in the MiFID II framework. This guide explains Article 29 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, which covers personal transactions by staff and others closely connected to the firm. It supports our Personal Account Dealing course overview and connects to our guides on market abuse and market manipulation signals.

What Article 29 requires

Article 29 requires an investment firm to establish, implement and maintain adequate arrangements to prevent certain activities by any relevant person who is involved in activities that may give rise to a conflict of interest, or who has access to inside information or other confidential information about clients or transactions with or for clients. The arrangements are meant to stop relevant persons from carrying out the prohibited personal transactions described below.

The three prohibited categories

According to the version of the text we read, the personal transactions that the firm's arrangements must prevent are those that fall into one of three groups: transactions prohibited under Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, the Market Abuse Regulation; transactions involving the misuse or improper disclosure of confidential information; and transactions that conflict, or are likely to conflict, with an obligation of the firm under MiFID II. The regulation also stops relevant persons from advising or procuring another person to enter into such a transaction, and from disclosing information or opinions that are likely to lead another person to enter into one.

Controls the firm must have

Article 29 also requires firms to make sure that relevant persons are aware of the restrictions on personal transactions and of the measures the firm has put in place. The firm must be notified promptly of any personal transaction entered into by a relevant person, either by notification of that transaction or by other procedures that let the firm identify it. The firm must also keep a record of personal transactions notified to it or identified by it.

Exemptions

Article 29 contains limited exemptions. They cover personal transactions made under a discretionary portfolio management service where there is no prior communication between the portfolio manager and the relevant person, and certain transactions in undertakings for collective investment where the relevant person is not involved in managing the undertaking. The detail of these exemptions is in the regulation, so check the full text before relying on either.

A related rule for research analysts

Article 37 of the same regulation adds safeguards for investment research. According to the text we read, analysts and other relevant persons must not trade ahead of research when they know its timing or content, and must not trade against current recommendations without prior approval from legal or compliance, except in exceptional circumstances. The firm must also have physical or alternative information barriers. This shows how the personal dealing rules sit inside a wider set of conflict controls, which our guide to conflicts of interest explains further.

Why this matters beyond the policy document

A personal account dealing policy is only as strong as the way it is applied. The article's emphasis on awareness, prompt notification and record keeping suggests that regulators look at whether staff know the rules, whether the firm actually sees their trades, and whether the firm can show what it decided. Because one of the prohibited categories refers directly to the Market Abuse Regulation, a personal dealing breach can overlap with a market abuse issue. Our guide to market abuse explains the offence side of that.

Using this in a compliance role: our suggestions

These steps are our suggestions, not requirements in the regulation.

• Check that every new joiner receives the policy and signs a declaration, and that reminders go out when the policy changes.
• Test the notification process by comparing broker feeds or statements with what staff reported.
• Check that pre-clearance decisions, including refusals, are recorded with a reason.
• Make sure staff understand that advising someone else to trade can be caught, not only trading themselves.
• Review who counts as a relevant person, especially contractors and people with access to confidential information but outside the front office.

For structured learning, browse our CPD courses.

What we could not confirm

We read the consolidated version of Delegated Regulation 2017/565 dated 14 December 2017, and later amendments may have changed the wording. We could not read the FCA Handbook rules on personal account dealing in COBS 11.7, so this post does not cover the UK position or say how it differs. We did not review the Central Bank of Ireland's own guidance on personal dealing. The summary above is ours, so check the regulation itself before relying on any detail. This post is general information, not legal advice.