Not all the member states of the European Union will be ready to implement the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) by the deadline of 1 Nobvember 2007, say London-based consultants Etheios.
“Different countries and their regulators are moving at different speeds,” says Stewart Copland, Consulting Director at Etheios, which has been advising its clients on the impact of MiFID and the steps they need to take to prepare for implementation. “They have after all differing laws, powers and resources and there will be a natural desire from some to protect the status quo where possible. We understand that the FSA is taking a pragmatic approach to implementing and enforcing compliance with MiFID and we believe that it is right to do so. Europe is setting the rules and national regulators, such as the FSA, are there to implement and enforce them. This is the new world. The regulatory group CESR is still consulting with the industry and has yet to reach its final view on certain elements of the overall MiFID picture. There are some parts which will be reviewed again by existing MiFID statute anyway. So we shall see the post-MiFID world gradually taking shape this year and then into 2008 and beyond. The full intent of MiFID to create a pan-European standard may not be achieved in the short-term.”
Alan Burr, principal consultant at Etheios, adds that “the interesting thing will be to see how markets and the investment services industry across Europe change after, say, five years. Passporting and new execution venues with the rights and choices they offer, once grasped by the practitioners, may well present a greatly altered market from the one that we see in early 2007.”