MiFID II: Waiting for Godot

A new look at MiFID II as the next release from Europe is delayed

MiFID II, arguably the most significant regulatory onslaught to hit the financial services industry since Big Bang, is in a state of constipation. We are waiting with baited breath for release of the Delegated Acts by the European Commission to set MiFID II in motion. These are the Level 2 texts that give the detailed implementation rules and until they are out, the rules aren’t final. Firms cannot embark on implementation work until they know what they’re implementing. The release should have come in June, then was delayed to end of September. The plan now is early November.

The industry’s frustration at the delay is compounded by the fact that the January 3, 2017 MiFID II implementation date is set in stone, explicitly written into the Level 1 texts, so the greater the delay in releasing the Delegated Acts, the tighter the timeline to achieve implementation. There have been calls to delay implementation, most notably by the Investment Association, but a change in the implementation date is extremely unlikely. To do so would require unanimous agreement by all three institutions: the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. In practical terms, this is all but impossible ‒ Europe is as united as a herd of cats – and the commission will be mindful of the risk of reopening the texts in any way; it would open Pandora’s Box.

Hier geht es zum gesamten Artikel, erschienen am 5. Oktober 2015, Autor Michael Hufton​, im IR-Magazine