Recital 19

An investment firm executing client orders against own proprietary capital should be deemed a systematic internaliser, unless the transactions are carried out outside a trading venue on an occasional, ad hoc and irregular basis. Thus, systematic internalisers should be defined as investment firms which, on an organised, frequent systematic and substantial basis, deal on own account by executing client orders outside a trading venue. The requirements for systematic internalisers in this Regulation should apply to an investment firm only in relation to each single financial instrument, for example on ISIN-code level, in which it is a systematic internaliser. In order to ensure an objective and effective application of the definition of systematic internaliser to investment firms, there should be a pre-determined threshold for systematic internalisation containing an exact specification of what is meant by frequent, systematic and substantial basis.