Asking the Right Questions

Welcome to the launch of MiFID Meg, the monthly column dedicated to comment, chat and debate on every data manager's favourite EU directive, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

For the record, from now on, Meg and Inside Reference Data will refer to the directive as MiFID. If you are involved in reference data and you do not know what MiFID stands for by now, please refer yourself to the Financial Services Authority Web site at www.fsa.gov.uk, or Europa, the EU online Web site, at www.europa.eu.int.

For those of you familiar with British tabloids, Meg is not affiliated with any mass-market newspaper psychics. However, that will not stop us from making our own predictions on MiFID from time to time.

As we count down to MiFID, this section will bring you updates on MiFID activities with the national regulators, MiFID projects within banks and institutions and activity in exchanges and data and software vendors. We plan to avoid any tedious articles along the lines of 'Is the Industry Ready for MiFID?' Frankly, we have seen enough articles, conference topics, Web events and so on discussing this issue.

Here's a more valid question: in the wake of the Level 2 draft of MiFID, what will be the true costs of implementation by investment banks in Europe and throughout the rest of the world? Industry-wide, that figure has been estimated to be between £500 million and £5 billion. The real price tag will be revealed over the next two years.

Recently, one data vendor commented to Meg that, "the only people reaping benefits from MiFID are the conference organizers."

With 19 months to go until the implementation deadline, we should be looking at the business benefits of MiFID and the practical realities of compliance. It's time for data managers to abandon the podiums and return to their back offices in order to prepare for the directive.

For any of you wishing to weigh in and pontificate on all things MiFID, Meg welcomes any and all debate. Please email us at mifidmeg@incsivemedia.com with your comments.