IMA and WMA rebuff EU proposals on dealing commission

Proposals from Europe to restrict the use of dealing commissions to pay for investment research have been rejected by the Investment Management Association (IMA) and the Wealth Management Association.

Responding to the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) consultation on MiFID II, IMA chief executive Daniel Godfrey (pictured) said the move to restrict what dealing commissions could be spent on implied there was currently a conflict of interest, a notion he rejected. He said any research associated with the use of dealing commissions was not an inducement, and warned that the proposal risked creating an ongoing debate over "what was allowed and what was not". Godfrey added: "In addition, unilateral change in Europe or the UK would create regulatory arbitrage that would...