Under MiFID II Directive 'ancillary service' means any of the services listed in Section B of Annex I to the Directive, i.e.:
- Safekeeping and administration of financial instruments for the account of clients, including custodianship and related services such as cash/collateral management and excluding maintaining securities accounts at the top tier level ('central maintenance service') referred to in point (2) of Section A of the Annex of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories (CSDs);
- Granting credits or loans to an investor to allow him to carry out a transaction in one or more financial instruments, where the firm granting the credit or loan is involved in the transaction;
- Advice to undertakings on capital structure, industrial strategy and related matters and advice and services relating to mergers and the purchase of undertakings;
- Foreign exchange services where these are connected to the provision of investment services;
- Investment research and financial analysis or other forms of general recommendation relating to transactions in financial instruments;
- Services related to underwriting;
- Investment services and activities as well as ancillary services of the type included under Section A or B of Annex 1 related to the underlying of the derivatives included under points (5), (6), (7) and (10) of Section C of MiFID II Directive where these are connected to the provision of investment or ancillary services.
The authorisation for investment firm may cover one or more of the ancillary services, however, authorisation in no case will be granted solely for the provision of ancillary services.
An investment firm seeking authorisation to extend its business to additional investment services or activities or ancillary services not foreseen at the time of initial authorisation should submit a request for extension of its authorisation.
The provision of a general recommendation about a transaction in a financial instrument or a type of financial instrument constitutes the provision of an ancillary service within Section B(5) of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU, and consequently Directive 2014/65/EU and its protections apply to the provision of that recommendation (Recital 17 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 of 25 April 2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive).