Bankernas tradingvinster hotas av EU:s regelpaket

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2004/39/EC (known as "MiFID") as subsequently amended is a European Union law that provides 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). The directive's main objectives are to increase competition and consumer protection in investment services. As of the effective date, 1 November 2007, it replaced the Investment Services Directive (ISD). MiFID is the cornerstone of the European Commission's Financial Services Action Plan, whose 42 measures will significantly change how EU financial service markets operate. MiFID is the most significant piece of legislation introduced under the Lamfalussy procedure designed to accelerate the adopting of legislation based on a four-level approach recommended by the Committee of Wise Men chaired by Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy. There are three other "Lamfalussy Directives"—the Prospectus Directive, the Market Abuse Directive and the Transparency Directive. MiFID retained the principles of the EU "passport" introduced by the Investment Services Directive (ISD) but introduced the concept of "maximum harmonization" which places more emphasis on home state supervision. This is a change from the prior EU financial service legislation which featured a "minimum harmonization and mutual recognition" concept. "Maximum harmonization" does not permit states to be "super equivalent" or to "gold-plate" EU requirements detrimental to a "level playing field". Another change was the abolition of the "concentration rule" in which member states could require investment firms to route client orders through regulated markets. The MiFID Level 1 Directive 2004/39/EC, implemented through the standard co-decision procedure of the Council of the European Union, and the European Parliament, sets out a detailed framework for the legislation. Twenty articles of this directive specified technical implementation measures (Level 2). These measures were adopted by the European Commission, based on technical advice from the Committee of European Securities Regulators and negotiations in the European Securities Committee with oversight by the European Parliament. Implementation measures in the form of a Commission Directive and Commission Regulation, were officially published on 2 September 2006. In April 2014, the European Parliament approved both MiFID II, an updated version of the original MiFID law, and MiFID II's accompanying regulation, MiFIR. The directive and regulation include fewer exemptions and expand the scope of the original MiFID to cover a larger group of companies and financial products. Both MiFID II and MiFIR are set to take effect in January 2018.