Wed, Dec 27, 2017

Hedgeweek MIFID II Blog Series

Duff & Phelps' Nick Bayley, managing director in the Compliance and Regulatory Consulting practice, has partnered with Hedgeweek to provide a monthly blog series providing insight on this imminent regulatory change.

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Ten-The Pareto Principle
It’s 3 January 2018. Hallelujah! Christmas has been and gone. The festive cheer over for another year. But there’s one more gift welcoming everyone as they head back to their offices: MiFID II has officially come into effect. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Nine-Because I'm Worth It (Or Not As the Case May Be)
Fed up with MiFID II yet? We are in the home straight and January 3, is just over the hill.  But rather than relief that the finishing line is in sight, many of people I speak to are just a bit fed up with the whole thing. Of course, some firms aren’t ready and they will be on borrowed time in 2018 until they sort themselves out. But those firms who have got their preparation done are beginning to ask ‘Is this all going to work? Is it worth all the effort?’ Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Eight-Considerations for Non-EU Entities
I was recently in New York advising a large sell-side institution on the potential impact of MiFID II. During that meeting, I was talking through why the legislation was being introduced and reflected that it’s now nearly 10 years since the financial crisis, yet still we haven’t some of the regulatory mechanisms in place in Europe. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Seven-90 Days and Counting
Although firms might not have all their ducks in a row, there are likely to be a couple of areas they should prioritize. I’m going to stick my neck out and offer my personal opinion on some of the areas that the FCA is likely to be most concerned about. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Six-A Brief History of European Market Structure
In the good old days (any time before MiFID came along in 2007), the structure of European capital markets was relatively simple. There were really only two types of markets: highly transparent, exchange-operated markets and relatively opaque, over the counter (OTC) markets. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Five-Before You Head to the Beach
Unsurprisingly, even a MiFID II geek like me prefers to spend time enjoying the Lions tour and Wimbledon than with the FCA’s second MiFID II Policy Statement which runs to over a thousand pages, including the Handbook text. 
Much work is still to be done, decisions to be made, vendors to be selected and contracts to be updated. Hopefully, though, before people disappear for their summer holidays, the following mid-year checklist will help them to serve a few aces. Such that when everyone returns at the start of September, discussions can move along at a faster pace; it certainly won’t be all strawberries and cream, admittedly, but MiFID firms needn’t feel totally overwhelmed by task of getting to January. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Four-A Leviathan in Waiting?
A few weeks ago I visited South Africa where I met numerous buy-side firms, some with UK or European subsidiaries and some who operated solely out of that country.  Apart from the dreaded Brexit, the other question that in came up in all the conversations was to ask how much the tentacles of MiFID II might extend beyond Europe.  In short, what is the reality of its extra-territoriality? Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Three-Dancing the Research Tango
As a former exchange regulator, I have more than a passing interest in the mechanisms for price formation and price discovery. So, it’s interesting to see the start of what I think will be a extended period of price discovery for investment research, as the sell-side and buy-side try to arrive at a common foundation on which to value it, which is part of the unbundling exercise under MiFID II. Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post Two-MiFID II Vendors-Demand will outstrip supply...
Last month the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) published a ‘MiFID II Vendor List’, to help firms that haven’t made decisions about which third-party vendors to use. Choosing one’s preferred suppliers should ideally be a relatively straightforward process but my advice, particularly to MiFID investment firms, is to act quickly, because some of the more recognizable names on the AIMA list could soon become saturated by client demand. This is certainly possible for those offering transaction reporting services as an Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM). Read the full post here

Hedgeweek MiFID II Blog Series: Post One-Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines...
There is now less ten months until the second iteration of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, comes in effect.  It will see Europe’s regulators applying many of the same transparency, reporting and microstructure rules to non-equity markets as were introduced for equity markets under the first MiFID back in 2007, as well as strengthening investor protection and market resilience. Read the full post here



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