Best expectations

Rosie Bhattacharjee is an associate director at Bovill, Financial Services Regulatory Consultants, www.bovill.com. She may be contacted on tel: + 44 (0)161 247 8562; email RBhattacharjee@bovill.com

MiFID introduces greater obligations on firms in respect of providing “best execution” to clients, writes Rosie Bhattacharjee of Bovill. Of significance is the requirement for firms that execute client orders to establish an execution policy, to provide appropriate information about that policy to clients and to obtain client consent. MiFID requirements go wider in application and contain more detailed obligations than apply at present. As well as placing obligations on firms executing orders, the rules contain specific requirements on firms that receive and transmit orders to third parties and manage portfolios. Further, MiFID applies the obligation of best execution more widely, by removing the opt-out by consent for professional clients that currently exists for non-private clients.