Part one of Practice Insight’s Libor reform polls finds a market in disarray over benchmark reform. Almost all respondents are unprepared for its transition and are simply waiting for others to make the first move
Esma’s six-month grace period for certain issuers will soon be over. Trading venues are preparing to delist thousands of bonds without the 20-digit code, warning those trades will either shift to voice or non-EU markets
Product manufacturers wanting to continue selling in the EU are looking into a creative – but risky – new strategy to bypass the investor protection rules. While it might work for some, lawyers warn against it, arguing that the relief of not having to produce a KID is not worth the potential risk
According to in-house lawyers and structurers, the cumulative impact of post-crisis regulation has reduced the availability of certain types of structured products in the marketplace. While Emir makes anything complex significantly more expensive, Priips and Mifid II reduce the pool of potential investors, further pushing banks towards vanilla instruments
Investment firms released their first reports in late April, but their effectiveness is severely limited by the range of approaches taken across the market. Differing interpretations of the rules - which some sources believe may be intentional - make them difficult to compare. Brokers and regulatory analysts say collating all the data is a thankless task
Retail products are still being delisted from investment platforms across the EU as firms struggle with complex formulae and inconsistent, overzealous interpretations of the two new investor protection regimes. One company has removed around 10% of all its products since January. Here senior figures at EU wealth management firms explain how they are adjusting to the new normal
As predicted, the new framework has forced a dramatic shift towards large-in-scale deals as traders look for workarounds to the contentious double volume caps. Here block trading specialists, bankers and operators of the EU's biggest dark pools explain what other factors are at play, including competition between active and passive strategies and the rise of technology
Some of the world's biggest banks are threatening to take their business elsewhere unless the brokers they interact with become trading venues under Mifid II. But brokers, many of them small, voice-based firms, argue they are being treated unfairly and don't have the infrastructure required to host a venue. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, it could force some out of business
The firm's Europe president Mark Hemsley responds to accusations from the AMF last week that its practices are not entirely transparent. Periodic auctions, which reveal limited info to the market before an order takes place, have become drastically more popular since Mifid II's double volume caps took effect, But they're not exactly what regulators had in mind when drafting the rules
In-house counsel and stock exchange sources reveal the workarounds third-country firms have found to Mifid II's exhaustive and onerous transparency obligations. From dealing exclusively with Asian subsidiaries of EU firms to making the most of Esma's 2017 venue equivalence admission for shares, trading footprints are changing
The shortlist for the eighth annual Euromoney Legal Media Group Europe Women in Business Law Awards has been announced. For the 2018 nominees, please see below.
The method of trading – a hybrid between on-venue and over-the-counter – has been around for years now, but it's gained new prominence as a solution to many of Mifid II’s transparency obligations. Here Barclays’ head of market structure, regulators, trading venues and buysiders debunk the myths and explain exactly how it works
