The second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) has welcomed a healthy rationalisation of relationships within the industry, according to one panellist at this year’s Fund Marketing & Distribution Europe Conference.
However, opinions differed between panellists, another stated: “Firms still don’t have very good data on who their distributors are, or who it is their actually dealing with. A staggered approach toward different distributors might be the answer, but that’s easier for bigger firms.”
Implemented on 3 January 2018, MiFID II regulates firms that provide any services to clients linked to financial instruments and venues where these instruments are traded.
Speakers on the panel discussed at length what should be included in a possible MiFID III regulation.
To which one panellist predicted: “There would probably be more inclusion of environmental, social and governance or a bigger concentration on the sustainability responsibilities of big firms.”
He added: “More than that I don’t have a crystal ball, I just don't want the same complexity to it.”
Another said there should be a framework in place “to better compare total cost and better investor protection. But I fear a MiFID III will end up more rigid and less flexible”.
Another panellist concluded the panel, affirming: “MiFID III should drive the kind of behaviours we should have taken ourselves.”
