I have written about MiFID often enough that I can almost figure out the acronym without going to Google. Ok, not quite – look it up yourself.
So I expected my friend Chris Skinner’s book on The Future of Investing in Europe’s Markets after MiFID to be moderately interesting but hardly surprising.
Wrong. Well, it was only moderately interesting – this is all about financial regulation, after all – but it was surprising in its depth, detail and demands. Chris, who has been kicking around the industry for years and runs the Financial Services Club in London, has called on his friends for this and the result is contributions from some very knowledgeable experts.
Customer relationship management has become such a cliché that companies which sell the stuff, like Portrait, go into severe contortion to avoid using the term CRM. But under MiFID, CRM isn’t some nice add-on for cross-selling; it’s required by regulators. As David Smith and Steve Leggett note, under MiFID knowing your customer isn’t just a revenue opportunity – it’s the law. MiFID requires different degrees of protection for retail investors, professionals and eligible counterparties.
Why is Europe doing this? Why would anyone welcome more regulation? Because it has the potential to expand capital markets and make finance more readily available at a lower cost through more liquidity.
Hey, best execution is pretty clear, isn’t it? Ah, not if you read Tony Kirby on the topic. I won’t give away the substance, only warn you that if you are anywhere near MiFID in your profession, you probably need to know what is in this book. Whether you face customers or a board, or are a board member facing shareholders and regulators, you need to know MiFID. Even if it is just to ask the right questions. This book is a great start. At the very least a scan through it will show you what you don’t know. Then, if you are senior enough, you can assign someone to figure it all out.

Filed under: Technology