How to respond to a very MiFID Christmas

A very MiFID Christmas

Just before Christmas, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) presented fund groups (and journalists) with the gift of more than 1,000 pages of its final consultation on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II.

These pages contained ESMA’s latest recommendations to the European Commission, much of which will eventually become part of its legislation. Of particular interest to the fund management industry were ESMA’s views on dealing commission, which has been a hot topic since the UK’s own Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began to take a closer look at how fund groups use client money to buy research from brokers. The first version of MiFID wanted to draw the line between low value and more value-added services: for example, calls with analysts and written research. MiFID II takes a differe...