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24 March 2011

FN: Europe ready to proceed on MiFID


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The EC is set to proceed with its overhaul of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and will not re-consult or split up the mammoth directive, a senior official said yesterday, quashing speculation that the regulator would consult again on the highly controversial text.


Speaking at the World Exchange Congress in Madrid, Maria Velentza, who is head of the securities unit in the European Commission's Internal Market and Services division, told delegates that the Commission would proceed with the industry feedback and information it had already gathered.

She said: "We would be very reluctant to consult again, and no doubt you would be very reluctant to respond again. We have been working on this for one-and-a-half years and have had input from the industry and from the regulators through the Committee of European Securities Regulators. The material is there and we are not going to consult further." She added: "There have been rumours that we will split the directive up but that is not our intention. We adopted MiFID I in one shot, and we can’t see that different bits of the MiFID review can be considered in isolation. It is a package and it needs to stay as such."

The MiFID review initially sought to address gaps left by the first version of the directive launched in November 2007, but proved to be far more expansive when finally published, after some delay, in early December, covering equities, fixed income, derivatives and commodities.

Velentza´s comments, which were made during a panel session on the impact of MiFID II on European trading infrastructure, addressed market rumours that the Commission might be forced to consult further on the text, due to the sheer scale and diversity of responses received during the consultation which closed in early February.

Velentza also used the panel as an opportunity to defend some of the more controversial elements of the MiFID review, in particular the creation of a new type of trading platform known as an organised trading facility.

Full article (FN subscription needed) 

© Financial News


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