A New Basic Law for Securities Trading in Europe
Posted: 9 Jun 2008 Last revised: 21 Jul 2008
Abstract
The securities trading industry in Europe is facing one of the most far reaching changes ever. The application of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive2 (MIFID) by market participants in the 25 EU member states is scheduled for November 1st, 2007 and requires Investment Firms and Regulated Markets to adapt to significant changes in the area of securities trading. MiFID is a centrepiece of the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) that aims at establishing an integrated and harmonised European Market for financial services and products. MiFID was adopted on April 30th, 2004 as a European Directive and contains 73 articles that have an effect on areas such as best execution, market transparency and organisational requirements. The discussion of all the different aspects of this new piece of legislation would require a page coverage comparable to the full 'Handbook of World Stock, Derivative and Commodity Exchanges', therefore in this paper we will provide a brief overview on MiFID and the regulatory process and will focus on the requirements of MiFID that affect specifically trading venues and their market models. This will cover Regulated Markets, MTFs and Systematic Internalisers.
Keywords: MiFID, Securities markets regulation
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