The European Venues and Intermediaries Association (EVIA) is pleased to announce that its financial data utility, WMBA Limited, was approved as an administrator by FCA under the EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) on Friday 12th January.
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Article reports that Anna DSB has faced criticism for increasing its annual fees to generate ISINs by 73%, despite previous complaints from trading venues over the existing cost of its services. Article includes comments on Alex McDonald in which he refers to the fees as a ‘de facto tax’ and advocates two possible solutions: a flat fee for all users going forward or a regulator-led ISIN generator.
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Article reports that accounting for the range of financial instruments falling under MiFID II’s scope has been a significant industry challenge. Article includes comments from Alex McDonald highlighting that the attempt to put wholesale trading on an exchange traded template by regulating products rather than participants and applying firm parameters to activities has been a challenge. McDonald also goes on to argue that a phased-in approach would have been more successful, and that the industry still requires more standardised definitions in order to properly report transactions.
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Article reports that the implementation of MiFID II on 3 January 2018 did not cause any major disruptions, although some issues were circumvented, such as the deadline for open access rules for exchanges and clearinghouses, which was delayed by 30 months to July 2020. Article includes comments from David Clark who highlights that this delay runs counter to the objectives of MiFID II and the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh meeting in which national leaders sought to reduce risk in financial markets by promoting derivatives clearing. In contrast, the open access delay means that this objective is still on the horizon. Clark adds that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit may complicate matters further.
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Article reports that MiFID II runs the risk of reducing the number of brokers and platform providers in the European market as its attempt to promote transparency has meant competition has been side-lined, with smaller firms being unable to manage the costs of compliance. Article includes comments from Alex McDonald on the ways regulators resolved similar issues following the implementation of Dodd Frank in the US.
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