New MiFID Directive and Regulation “to make financial markets more efficient, resilient and transparent”
On 20 October 2011 the European Commission published a draft Directive and draft Regulation (the Proposals) that, if adopted, will revise and replace the existing Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). The MiFID revision page of the Commission’s website is here (and contains the draft text of the Proposals); the press release on the Proposals is here and the Commission’s useful and full FAQs on the Proposals are here.
MiFID has been in force since 1 November 2007. The Commission argues that since then:
“…financial markets have changed enormously. New trading venues and products have come onto the scene and technological developments such as high frequency trading have altered the landscape…In response to this, the European Commission has today tabled [the Proposals which] aim to make financial markets more efficient, resilient and transparent, and to strengthen the protection of investors. The new framework will also increase the supervisory powers of regulators and provide clear operating rules for all trading activities.”
The Proposals are part of a reform package put forward by the Commission to ”guarantee the competitiveness, efficiency and integrity of EU financial markets”. The Commission’s recent publication of a draft Regulation and Directive on Market Abuse and Insider Trading – which we discussed in this post – are part of that package.
