--- title: "Article 10 — Shareholders and members with qualifying holdings" type: regulation legal_status: in_force source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014L0065-20260606" source_retrieved: 2026-09-28 shortTitle: "Article 10 — Shareholders and members with qualifying holdings" instrument_type: level1_directive authority: Commission binding: true binding_character: binding mica_level2: false legal_basis: "Directive 2014/65/EU" instrument: mifid2 celex: "32014L0065" regulation: MiFID II regulation-full: "Directive 2014/65/EU" article: 10 status: in_force object_id: eu.mifid2.legal_text.article.10 text_version: "Consolidated version of 6 June 2026" source_url: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014L0065-20260606" check_status: matched verified: true last_checked: 2026-10-26 --- *In force · Consolidated version of 6 June 2026 · Checked against EUR-Lex on 26 Oct 2026 · [Official source](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014L0065-20260606)* 1. The competent authorities shall not authorise the provision of investment services or performance of investment activities by an [investment firm](https://www.headlesslaw.com/definitions/mifid-ii/investment-firm) until they have been informed of the identities of the shareholders or members, whether direct or indirect, natural or legal persons, that have qualifying holdings and the amounts of those holdings. The competent authorities shall refuse authorisation if, taking into account the need to ensure the sound and prudent management of an investment firm, they are not satisfied as to the suitability of the shareholders or members that have qualifying holdings. Where [close links](https://www.headlesslaw.com/definitions/mifid-ii/close-links) exist between the investment firm and other natural or legal persons, the competent authority shall grant authorisation only if those links do not prevent the effective exercise of the supervisory functions of the competent authority. 2. The competent authority shall refuse authorisation if the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of a third country governing one or more natural or legal persons with which the undertaking has close links, or difficulties involved in their enforcement, prevent the effective exercise of its supervisory functions. 3. Member States shall require that, where the influence exercised by the persons referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 is likely to be prejudicial to the sound and prudent management of an investment firm, the competent authority take appropriate measures to put an end to that situation. Such measures may include applications for judicial orders or the imposition of sanctions against directors and those responsible for management, or suspension of the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the shares held by the shareholders or members in question. *** [Title II — Authorisation and operating conditions for investment firms](../titles/ii.md) · [← Article 9](9.md) · [Article 11 →](11.md)