Expectation can be a funny thing. Whatever it may be, quite often the thrill of anticipation will outweigh the grind of reality, or the dread of an unwanted event may turn out to be something that wasn’t worth worrying about at all.
Whatever your personal view on it, the day that we have all been waiting for has come around at last: MiFID II is finally here. After years of preparatory work and countless sleepless nights across the industry, the day of reckoning is finally here…and things seem to be going okay so far.
The major news on MiFID II so far has come in the form of regulatory forbearance, something many people wouldn’t have expected on the regime’s launch day, or just before in one case.
As Joe Parsons reports, two of Europe’s largest derivatives exchanges were granted deferrals by the UK and German regulatory bodies from complying with open access, as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) awarded a last-minute reprieve to ICE Futures Europe and the London Metal Exchange (LME), a day after the German regulator BaFin gave a stay of execution to Eurex, Europe’s largest futures exchange.
Aside from this it’s been pretty quiet so far and that’s hardly surprising, as I assume most people will scarcely have time to look away from their monitors over the next few weeks before the new regime just becomes the new normal.
There’s been plenty of advice circulating around the social media-sphere over the last few days, most of which have been somewhat redundant introductory guides to what MiFID II even is, which makes little sense to me because seriously, who is reading those at this point?
What does make sense, however, is keeping your copy of the The TRADE’s MiFID II Handbook close by. This handy (geddit?) little resource tells you all you need to know about the new rule changes and may just prove to be an invaluable resource in times of trouble.
It’s also a good opportunity for me to introduce myself as the new editor of The TRADE. You may recognise my name and unkempt hair from my previous roles with WatersTechnology, where I covered financial technology issues across the buy- and sell-sides for the best part of the last three years.
Now, in the spirit of new eras, I’m happy to be able to take on a new challenge at the dawn of the MiFID II era, spearheading both The TRADE’s editorial and events agendas. It’s clear 2017 was a great year for the publication and we’ve got a lot to look forward to over the coming year.
I’m anticipating being a big part of that, so please do reach out with any news stories, tips, comments or lunch invitations, they’re always appreciated. Get in touch on john.brazier@www.thetradenews.com or +44 203 478 1056.
John