StratNav

The Markets in Financial Investments Directive (MiFID) is an EU Directive harmonised regulation for investment services across the 31 member states of the European Economic Area (the 28 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein). (Note, therefore, the potential impact of Brexit.)

MIFID II is designed to increase transparency and investor protection after the financial crisis.

MIFID II could have a number of consequences:

• advisers could be forced to record all calls and even face-to-face conversations.
• MIFID II has introduced a European-wide definition of 'independence' which requires independent firms to make recommendations based on a “sufficient range” of providers’ products rather than the whole market as under the FCA’s definition, but it extends to a wider range of products. The FCA has said it is “open-minded” about changing its independent and restricted labels after its post-implementation review of the RDR found they were not well understood by consumers. (This is all likely to force advisers to become more specialised in the types of products on which they advise.
• Execution-only and direct offer may no longer be an option for many products.
• Further tightening around 'inducements' like extravagant hospitality.
• The only area where MIFID II might result in the FCA becoming more lenient is in disclosure of costs. MIFID II recognises that it might be difficult for advisers to present the sum of all costs as a single figure.

The European Parliament confirmed the delay in implementing MiFID II to 3 January 2018.