The MiFID implementing measures: excessive detail or level playing field?

* Jean-Pierre Casey is Head of Research at the European Capital Markets Institute and Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies. He can be reached on: +32 2 229 39 58 or by email at: jean-pierre.casey@ceps.be. Karel Lannoo is Secretary General of ECMI and Chief Executive of CEPS. The authors benefited from discussions held in the context of a joint CEPS/ECMI seminar on the subject, on 23 March 2006.

The present Policy Brief involves a detailed critical analysis of the MiFID Directive’s draft implementing measures. It sets out to examine the evolution of EU regulation of investment firms from the original Investment Services Directive through the MiFID implementing measures, arguing that the EU Commission has moved from a principles- to a rules-based approach. The great level of detail in some of the implementing measures will impose significant costs to investment firms and could trigger unintended consequences. Nevertheless, some of the negative effects of the MiFID will surely be offset by the benefits derived from replacing 25 different regulatory regimes with a harmonised set of rules.