Brexit MiFID II Divergence Puts Dark Pools Under the Spotlight

By Thomas Helm June 17, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR As the MiFID II review process rumbles on in the EU and markets eagerly anticipate the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) wholesale market review, the issue of dark trading has been thrust into the limelight once again. ...

Quantum Trading and the Search for the Perfect Clock

By Luke Clancy June 17, 2021, Risk For high frequency traders, the expression ‘time is money’ holds a literal truth. Firms that use algorithmic trading strategies must time-stamp transactions to the nearest fraction of a millisecond. This requires internal...

Almost All Firms Incorrectly Reporting Transactions Under MiFIR, Report Finds

By Annabel Smith June 17, 2021, The Trade Close to 100% of firms are incorrectly reporting trades and transactions as required under MiFIR and are unaware of the errors, according to research from financial services advisor ACA Group.  A...

UK Lawmakers Want to Gut MiFID II in Wake of Brexit as Law ‘Makes It More Attractive to Trade Elsewhere’

By Justin Cash June 15, 2021, Financial News A high-profile group of MPs has urged the prime minister to undergo a radical shakeup of MiFID II rules in the wake of Brexit. Key elements of the directive around costs...

UK Task Force Urges Reforms to Boost City and Fast-Growing Sectors

By Daniel Thomas and Jim Pickard June 11, 2021, Financial Times A UK government task force is set to recommend sweeping regulatory reforms to the City of London and fast-growing sectors of the economy as ministers seek to free...

European Stock Traders Place Their Blockbuster Bets in the Dark

By Saikat Chatterjee and Thyagaraju Adinarayan June 3, 2021, Reuters Think of an exclusive poker game where the minimum bet is close to $1 million. The stock-trading version, “dark pools” that host blockbuster trades, are pulling in major money...

Video Surveillance Data: Useful or Not?

By Hamad Ali May 26, 2021, WatersTechnology The widespread adoption of video communications platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams during the pandemic brought to the forefront new concerns about compliance and conduct risk for traders working remotely. Now over a...

ESMA Issues an Opinion on Product Intervention Measures on Turbos

June 8, 2021, ESMA The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has today issued an opinion on product intervention measures communicated by The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). These measures concern turbos which are high-risk...

Markets Expect ‘Lighter Touch’ MiFID II in UK Following Divergence

By Thomas Helm June 10, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR Although there is still much uncertainty around where the post-Brexit divergence cards will fall, market participants expect a simplification of UK MiFID II transparency rules, according to sources. The...

How the UK and EU Are Quietly Diverging When It Comes to Financial Services

By Philip Stafford June 3, 2021, Financial Times Fishing and farming sparked fierce debate in Westminster over whether to follow EU standards or not. Financial services, an industry that dwarfs both of them combined, is diverging with barely a...

MiFID II Review: Don’t Change Too Much

By Thomas Helm June 3, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR While the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) looks to revise MiFID II as part of its post-Brexit review of capital markets regulation, the EU is also engaged in a...

EU Finalizes MiFID Market Data Rules for Trading Venues

By Najiyya Budaly June 1, 2021, Law360 Europe’s securities regulator said on Tuesday that it has finalized guidelines that will recommend that trading venues quickly publish data on prices as it seeks to make financial markets more transparent...

Primary Markets Worried About EU/UK MiFID II Divergence

By John Crabb May 27, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR The majority of respondents at the first day of the IFLR European Capital Markets Forum expressed concern about the divergence of the MiFID II rules affecting the UK and the EU’s...

EU Funds Shudder at MiFID Transaction Reporting Plan

By Samuel Wilkes May 25, 2021, Risk You wouldn’t catch a miner going down a shaft littered with dead canaries. Nor will you catch the buy side wanting to start reporting under a regime their peers are still wrestling...

No-Fee Brokers Reviewed by EU For Possible Conflicts of Interest

By Alexander Weber and Silla Brush May 20, 2021, Bloomberg Zero-commission stock brokers are coming under increased scrutiny in the European Union as officials suspect their business model might run counter to the bloc’s market regulations.Services including Etoro Europe Ltd. and Trade...

Radical Shifts in the European Platform Market

By Víctor García Priego May 21, 2021, Money Marketing Institutional platforms have enjoyed a favourable environment in the past few years. Pretty much everything that has shaped the European fund industry – from the increase in cross-border distribution...

Johnson Told to ‘Go Into Battle’ for the City After Brussels Power Grab

By Tom Rees May 21, 2021, The Telegraph Ministers must “go into battle” for the City and stand their ground over an attempted power grab by Brussels over financial services, Boris Johnson’s former economics adviser has said. In a Policy...

Treasury Prepares for Bonfire of EU Red Tape

By James Crisp, Lucy Burton, and Harry YorkeMay 15, 2021, The Telegraph Britain is drawing up plans to axe swathes of pre-Brexit financial rules after giving up hope that Brussels will grant the City widespread access to the Single...

ESMA Appoints French Regulator to Oversee Daily Operations

By Lucy McNulty May 20, 2021, Financial News The European Securities and Markets Authority has confirmed the appointment of former French regulator Natasha Cazenave to oversee the day-to-day running of the European Union’s top markets watchdog. Cazenave will leave...

UK to Lose More Swap Trades When FCA Brexit Powers Expire

By Samuel Wilkes May 18, 2021, Risk London will face further loss of swaps trading activity unless stop-gap powers conferred on the Financial Conduct Authority can be made permanent before they lapse at the end of next year, market...

PIMFA Chief: New Post-Brexit Regulation Supports FSCS Reform

By Liz Field May 18, 2021, Money Marketing Now that we have left the European Union (EU), HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) are bringing forward new post-Brexit regulations in the areas...

Asset Managers Demand Better Data for Product Governance

By Nicholas Pratt May 12, 2021, Funds Europe A lack of accessible product data is the leading governance concern among asset managers, according to a recent study. The research, jointly conducted by IT services consultancy Idea Group and financial...

Post-Brexit Regulatory Divergence Is Imminent

By Alice Tchernookova May 13, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR Four full months have now passed since the end of the Brexit transition period, and settings in the financial regulation space are about to change significantly, sources have claimed.  While EU and...

CCP Open Access Meets a ‘Disappointing’ Death in UK

By Samuel Wilkes May 12, 2021, Risk The UK Treasury’s decision to scrap rules that allow market users to clear listed derivatives at a central counterparty of their choice has been met with disappointment among a coalition of the...

The UK’s Chance to Define Europe’s Best Execution Blueprint

By Anish Puuar May 6, 2021, The Trade With the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) poised to scrap MiFID II’s so-called RTS 27 and 28 reports, the UK has an opportunity to set Europe’s gold standard for best execution monitoring....

FCA’s MiFID II Proposed Changes Could Save Asset Managers £6.7m in Compliance Costs a Year

By Pedro Goncalves May 7, 2021, Investment Week The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed changes to the MiFID II reporting rules could see asset managers save up to £6.7m in compliance costs a year, research suggests. Asset managers in...

Green Transition Potentially Damaging for SMEs

By Thomas Helm May 6, 2021, Practice Insight from IFLR With the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the EU taxonomy, the election of Joe Biden, the European Green Recovery and a furious investor appetite for ESG products, the green...

Can Brexit Put the MiFID House in Order?

By Jon Yarker April 30, 2021, Money Marketing As a journalist covering financial advice, I like to think I have a solid understanding of what advisers do and don’t like. In fact, here’s a brief list. Likes: Building a...

Clearing Post-Brexit: What Happens Now?

By Joe Parsons May 7, 2021, The Trade When the UK and EU announced their last-minute post-Brexit agreement and there was little to no mention of financial services, the eventual divergence on trading regulation was inevitable.  Early signs of...

Gensler Sits Down to a Full Plate

By Adrian Whelan, Brown Brothers Harriman Originally published at the On The Regs blog We explain some of the top issues likely to ensure Mr. Gensler doesn’t get a whole lot of a “honeymoon period” when he takes his...